36 STORIES OF EARTH AND SKY 



when I am ready for housekeeping. It is the 

 rule in our family that females never speak until 

 they are spoken to." 



" How can you call her ? I didn't know a 

 Grouse could sing." 



" I drum for her, as you heard me drum just 

 now to proclaim it spring. We game birds love 

 martial music better than vocal; so I play the 

 drum, while Bob-white prefers the fife, and 

 friend Woodcock, who I see has just arrived 

 and is probing for worms over there near the 

 spring, has a little instrument of his own, half 

 fife and half flute, to which he dances." 



" What became of Ko-ko-ko-ho after the storm ? 

 Did he find his wife, and did his wing grow 

 strong again ? " 



" His wing was soon cured, but he is banished, 

 and I am to announce it to the Clan to-night 

 before the trial. 



" After Crotalus, the Bad One, died, the Beast 

 and Bird Brotherhood lived quite happily here- 

 about for several years. Then complaints began 

 to pour in about Mr. and Mrs. Ko-ko-ko-ho. 

 They took two of my children last spring, and 

 five of Bob-white's covey. Mother Rabbit lost 

 more children, she said, than she could count ; 

 but as she always has more than she can take 



