156 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
Dave had come down, that Gray Lady noticed the box 
that Tommy had brought and which stood beside him, 
the slats on top telling that it contained some live thing. 
As she turned to ask Tommy what he had brought, 
Goldilocks came down the path in her chair, for though 
she could walk quite well by this time, she was obliged to 
be very careful, and Ann would not allow her to be on her 
feet for more than an hour or two each day. 
“The little Owls are back again and all sitting in a row 
on a branch of the old russet beyond the lunch-counter. 
There is a hollow in the trunk of the tree that I never 
noticed before, and do you know, mother, I shouldn’t be 
surprised if the nest had been in there, so, perhaps, if we 
have something that they like on the lunch-counter, they’ll 
come back next year.” 
“Come back? Aren’t you going to shoot them before 
they get away?” asked Dave. ‘“ Because they might not 
come back.”’ 
“We don’t want them to come back to be shot, but to 
make more nests and live here,” said Goldilocks. 
“Tive! why, folks always shoot Owls and Hawks! They 
are very bad things, though I guess Hawks are the worst; 
anyhow, there’s more of ’em. Just look at those big Hen- 
hawks flying up yonder now; maybe you’d like them to 
come and live in the orchard. If they did, they’d eat the 
lunch off’n your counter, other birds and all.”’ 
Gray Lady, seeing by the expression of Dave’s face that 
he could not quite understand any other view of the matter, 
said: “Yes, Dave, you are right; people usually shoot 
Hawks and Owls on sight —and have been doing so for 
years. In fact, my own husband used to shoot them as a 
