108 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
perched on the back of Goldilocks’ chair and the Starling 
flitting about the open rafters until he found a perch that 
suited him upon a hook that had once held a hammock, 
where he seemed quite at home. The Crow, however, 
was anxious and uneasy when he saw the children trooping 
up, and flopping from the chair-bar with a sidewise motion, 
he scuttled across to the stove, under which he disap- 
peared, occasionally peering out with his head on one side 
like a very inquisitive human being. 
“JT don’t wonder that you look astonished,” said Gray 
Lady, “at seeing birds in this house that are apparently 
captive, but the truth is that they will not go away, and 
come back through every open window. So, as we have 
not the heart to drive them away, we let them live here 
in the playroom and about the barns, where they find 
plenty to eat, and at any moment they wish to go, freedom 
is close at hand for the taking.” 
“But what made them come to begin with?” asked 
Dave. ‘Crows are mostly the scariest things going.” 
“ Jacob found the Crow up in the cedar woods in May,” 
said Goldilocks. ‘ All the others were able to fly and take 
care of themselves, but this one stayed in the low bushes 
and its parents were feeding it. One morning, when 
Jacob was up there cutting cedar-posts for the gate he 
made to Birdland, he heard a great commotion; the old 
Crows and the young ones were cawing and screaming and 
flying about in distress, while crouching in the bushes, 
and just ready to spring upon the Crow, was a big half- 
wild cat. It used to belong to the people up at the lumber 
camp, but when they went away they left it, and all last 
winter and spring it has lived by hunting.” 
