be safe and snug up in the tree, to be
very particular. So she made up her mind to lie there till it grew
towards roosting-time, and then see what she could find for supper.
She peeped out as well as she could between the branches to see what
the surrounding country was like; it all looked quite wild and
lonely, and she saw but few dwellings anywhere near the clump of
trees.

Her place of refuge seemed at a considerable distance from the
high-road; so she hoped she was tolerably safe from both men and dogs.

At length the cold dews of the evening began to fall, and the little
birds began to return home to their trees: so the cat ventured to
descend and look about for her supper. I am sorry to say, that being
by this time exceedingly hungry, she obeyed the dictates of nature,
and in a very few minutes had attacked and devoured a dear little
robin, that might have sung merrily all through the autumn, if puss
had only been _contented_, and staid quietly at home in the cottage.
Be that as it may, poor little Redbreast fell a victim to her hunger,
and yet she considered him but a very poor supper, after all. He was
the best she could get that night, however; for the other birds proved
too nimble for her: so, weary and hungry, puss climbed up her tree
again, and was soon asleep--for she was very tired indeed, with all
she had done that day. The next morning, when she awoke, her limbs
felt quite stiff; for the night had been frosty, and she was very
cold. But there was no fire in the tree; so she had nothing for it but
to crawl down, and try to warm herself with catching a bird for her
breakfast. She was so benumbed, that she could hardly get down, and
her bones ached as if she had got the rheumatism all over her:
however, jumping about after the birds revived her by degrees, and she
began to feel in a little better spirits; till, spying, at a distance
on the high-road, a carriage with a large dog running after it, all
her panic returned, and she climbed up into her tree again with all
expedition. But the carriage rolled along, and took no notice of puss;
and the rumbling of the wheels soon died away, and all was quiet
again.

What a melancholy long day it seemed! and, moreover, she could hardly
catch a bird--they all seemed to fly away from the trees, instead of
settling upon them; and puss had really hard work to get any dinner at
all that day. And then the night was _so_ cold again. Many a time when
she awoke, and felt