LITTLE SOLOMON OTUS 



glittering snow, such a thin Hd as Solomon had might be 

 very comfortable, even for our day eyes, and save us the 

 trouble of wearing colored glasses. 



Lively as Solomon was by night, all he asked during 

 the day was peace and quiet. He had it, usually. It was 

 seldom that even any of the wild folk knew* where his 

 nest was; and when he spent the day outside, in some 

 shady place, he did n't show much. His big feather- 

 horns at such times helped make him look like a ragged 

 stub of a branch, or something else he was n't. It is pos- 

 sible for a person to go very close to an owl without see- 

 ing him ; and fortunately for Solomon, birds did not find 

 him every day. For when they did, they mobbed him. 



One day, rather late in the summer, Cock Robin 

 found him and sent forth the alarm. To be sure, Solo- 

 mon was doing no harm — just dozing, he was, on a 

 branch. But Cock Robin scolded and sputtered and 

 called him mean names; and the louder he talked, the 

 more excited all the other birds in the neighborhood be- 

 came. Before long there were twenty angry kingbirds 

 and sparrows and other feather-folk, all threatening to 

 do something terrible to Solomon. 



Now, Solomon had been having a good comfortable 

 nap, with his feathers all hanging loose, when Cock 

 Robin chanced to alight on the branch near him. He 

 pulled himself up very thin and as tall as possible, with 



175 



