3IO Bird -Lore 



from the bracken by another stump, and imagined that the rest of the family 

 were in hiding. It might have been a good idea to keep the youngsters down 

 inside stumps till they were well able to fly! Then they would be comparatively 

 safe from cats. 



At dusk that night, Goldilocks' mother called at my door, "Want to see 

 Johnnie?" explaining as she brought him in that when she had gone to shut 

 up her chickens she had heard Owl-talk in the grove, and had got her son to 

 find the little fellow for her. Johnnie was quite used to us by this time, and, 

 though he snapped his bill a little from force of habit, submitted willingly to 

 being stroked and petted. Bread and milk, however, in view of expiated 

 mice, like a good and proper Owlet, he firmly refused. 



After this the fisherman, eager to see the old Owls at close range, tried to 

 snare them and temporarily frightened them away, but, before I left, their 

 voices were occasionally heard at night, and, after I had returned to the 

 East, letters from Goldilocks brought the good news that Johnnie's family 

 were still in the neighborhood. 



