I hope you will enjoy hearing about my forest friends. They are delightful people to know, and you must get acquainted with them as soon as you can. I should like to have you in little chairs just opposite my own and talk of these things quite as we used to do in my kindergarten. But that cannot be, so I have written you this letter, and think that perhaps some of you will write to me, telling which story you like best, and why you like it. Your friend, CLARA DILLINGHAM PIERSON. Stanton, Michigan, April 15, 1898. CONTENTS. PAGE MR. RED SQUIRREL COMES TO LIVE IN THE FOREST 13 WHY MR. GREAT HORNED OWL HATCHED THE EGGS 21 THE SWAGGERING CROW 31 THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER CHILDREN 39 THE NIGHT MOTH WITH A CROOKED FEELER 52 THE BEES AND THE KINGBIRD 62 THE STORY OF THE COWBIRD'S EGG 73 MRS. MOURNING DOVE'S HOUSEKEEPING 83 THE YOUNG BLUE JAY WHO WAS NOT BRAVE ENOUGH TO BE AFRAID 91 THE RED SQUIRRELS BEGIN HOUSEKEEPING 100 THE BIGGEST LITTLE RABBIT LEARNS TO SEE 113 THE LITTLE BAT WHO WOULDN'T GO TO BED 123 A SWARM LEAVES THE BEE TREE 133 THE HAUGHTY GROUND HOG 144 THE UNDECIDED RATTLESNAKE 153 THE QUARRELSOME MOLE 163 THE WILD TURKEYS COME 175 THE TRAVELLERS GO SOUTH 186 THE RUFFED GROUSE'S STORY 198 A MILD DAY IN WINTER 208 [Illustration] MR. RED SQUIRREL COMES TO LIVE IN THE FOREST Life in the forest is very different from life in the meadow, and the forest people have many ways of doing which are not known in the world outside. They are a quiet people and do not often talk or sing when there are strangers near. You could never get acquainted with them until you had learned to be quiet also, and to walk through the underbrush without snapping twigs at every step. Then, if you were to live among them and speak their language, you would find that there are many things about which it is not polite to talk. And there is a reason for all this.