My husband, Tom, has always been good with animals, but I was still amazed when he befriended a female grouse ( 松鸡 ). It's 1 for a grouse to have any contact ( 接触 ) with people. In fact, they're hard to spot, 2 they usually fly off when they hear humans approaching. This grouse came into our lives in 3 . Tom was working out in the field when he 4 her walking around at the edge of the field. She was 5 unafraid and seemed to be 6 about what he was doing. Tom saw the 7 bird several times, and she got more comfortable around him. We quickly grew 8 of the bird and decided to call her Mildred. One day, as Tom was working, Mildred came within a few feet of him to watch. Tom 9 he didn't see her and kept working to see what she would do next. Apparently, she didn't like to be 10 . She'd run up and peck ( 啄 ) at Tom's hands, then 11 off to see what he would do. This went on for about 20 minutes, until Mildred became tired of the 12 and left. As spring went and summer came, Mildred started to 13 more and more often. 14 Mildred felt comfortable enough to jump up on Tom's leg and stay long enough for me to get a 15 of the two of them together. This friendly grouse soon felt 16 not just with our family, but with anybody who walked or drove by. When hunting season opened, we put a 17 at the end of our driveway asking 18 not to shoot our pet grouse. My father, who lived down the road, 19 warned people not to shoot her. 20 , hunters would stop and take pictures, because they had never seen anything like her.