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