I don't think I have had enough for a
Goldfinch, and that is pretty hard for a
bird of my size. I am so thin that my
feathers feel loose."

" Have you been so hungry that you
dreamed about food?" asked the Screech
Owl.
" N-no, I can't say that I have," said the
Great Horned Owl, while his wife shook
her head solemnly.
" Ah, that is dreadful," said the Screech
Owl. " I have done that several times.
Only yesterday, while I lay in my nest-
hollow, I dreamed that I was hunting.
There was food everywhere, but just as I
flew down to eat, it turned into pieces of



A Mild Day in Winter. 211

ice. When I awakened I was almost
starved and so cold that my beak chat-
tered."

It was only a few days after the Screech
Owl's call upon his cousins that he
awakened cne night to find the weather
milder, and the ground covered with only
a thin coating of soft snow. The beautiful
round moon was shining down upon him,
and in the western sky the clouds were
still red from the rays of the setting sun.
Somewhere, far beyond the fields and
forests of this part of the world, day-birds
were beginning to stir, and thousands of
downy heads were drawn from under
sheltering wings, while in the barnyards
the Cocks were calling their welcome to
the sun. But the Screech Owl did not
think of this. He aroused his wife and
they went hunting. When they came
back they did not dream about food.
They had eaten all that they could, and
the Great Horned Owl and his wife had



2 1 2 Among the Forest People.
