Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-15

most of the little people are very light
sleepers. They are said to sleep with
one eye open. OF course this isn't true
It means that they are such slight
sleepers that 1t sometimes seems as il
they had one eye open.
Now Mrs. Grouse is one of those who
are In constant danger when they are
asleep. You see. while she is many,
many times larger than many Of the
other little feathered peonle. she res",-
vas more to fear than they do. In the
hrst place it is not so easy lor her :.
hide. In the second place. being so big
she would make a much better dinner
than one of the smaller birds. and SO
Reddy and Granny Fox and IIooty the
Owl are on the watch for her more
sharply than Tor any of ne ...ic.a.
Mrs Grouse knows all this. and go
ing to bed at night is very serious
matter with her. a matter which calls
for all her knowledge and sharpest
wits. She must be sure that no one sees
her when she goes to bed. So as bed
time approaches she is very wide
awake indeed. Having made up her
mind just where she will sleep she ap-
proaches the place slowly and careful
ly. stopping often to look and listen to
make sure that no one Is near
Now while Mrs. Grouse has stout
wings and can fly swiftly she is not at
all fond OF using them excepting to
escape from danger or to take her up
into the trees when food is so scarce
that she must live on the buds Of trees
She never feels really comfortable in
a tree. Her feet were made for walk
ing on the ground. and they get very
tired and ache when she must cling to
branch for long time. So she much
prefers to sleep on the ground But
when there is hard, icy crust, she
sleeps in the thickest branched tree she
can find. There she aas nothing to
fear from Reddy Fox, but is always
afraid that she may move and the
keen ears of Hooty the Owl may hear
her and his night-seeing eyes spy her
out. You see Hooty flies SO softly that
there is nothing to warn Of his pres
ence.
But when she is sleeping on the
ground Mrs. Grouse can trust to her
ears to catch the sound of the soft
the faintest snap of a tiny dry twig
is enough to Waken her and send her
whirring up to the nearest tree. Reddy
Fox found this out long ago. More than
once he had happened close to where
she was sleeping, not knowing that she
was there. and had been startled al
most out Of his wits by the roar of her
wings. SO he had made up his mind
that he had got to find out where she
went to sleep. and then he would be
ready to spring on her soon as he
was near enough.
SO every night just about dusk Reddy
was hiding where he could watch Mrs
Grouse. At first there was a hard
crust. and for two or three nights Mrs.
Grouse slept in a hemlock tree. Then
the crust softened, and this was fol-
lowed by a great snow storm. When it
was over the snow lay soft and deep
all through the Green Forest. That
night Reddy was in hiding to watch
Mrs. Grouse. He saw her come walk
ing along on her snowshoes. and he
wished that he had snowshoes, for it
wasn't easy for him to get about be-
cause he sank in at every step. AS she
walked she looked this way and that
way, but she didn' see Reddy, and he
chuckled silently. Then she flew up to
a tall tree and Reddy's heart sank with
disappointment. But he kept watch.
He wouldn't give up until he was quite
sure that she had gone to sleep for The
night He was glad he waited Sudden
ly Mra. Grouse shot down from her
perch head first into the snow and dis
appeared. Reddy grinned. He knew that
she had gone to bed for the night.