Redruff 



the third ravine going so long unharmed ; but 

 the near prospect of other gunners finding them 

 now, had stirred him to go after ' a mess o' 

 birds.' He had heard no roar of wings when 

 the mother-bird led off her four survivors, so 

 pocketed the two he had killed and returned to 

 the shanty. 



The little grouse thus learned that a dog is 

 not a fox, and must be differently played; and 

 an old lesson was yet more deeply graven — 

 ' Obedience is long life.' 



The rest of September was passed in keeping 

 quietly out of the way of gunners as well as 

 some old enemies. They still roosted on the 

 long thin branches of the hardwood trees among 

 the thickest leaves, which protected them from <§& 



foes in the air ; the height saved them from foes 

 on the ground, and left them nothing to fear 

 but coons, whose slow, heavy tread on the lim- 

 ber boughs never failed to give them timely 

 warning. But the leaves were falling now — 

 every month its foes and its food. This was 

 nut time, and it was owl time, too. Barred 

 owls coming down from the north doubled or 

 trebled the owl population. The nights were 



325 



^ 



w. 



