PETER PIPER 



ren went long before they were one year old. They 

 went, in fact, way to the land where the insects live that 

 are so hard and beautiful and gemlike that people some- 

 times use them for jewels. These are called ^^ Brazilian 

 beetles/^ and you can tell by that name where the Pipers 

 spent the winter, though it may seem a very far way for 

 a young bird to go, with neither train nor boat to give 

 him a lift. 



Not even tired they wxre, from all accounts, those 

 little feather-folk; and why, indeed, should they be tired? 

 A jaunt from a northern country to Brazil was not too 

 much for a healthy bird, with its sure breath and pure 

 rich blood. There was food enough along the trail — 

 they chose their route wisely enough for that, you may 

 be sure; and they were in no great haste either going or 

 coming. 



^^ Coming,'^ did I say? Why, surely! You did n^t 

 think those sandpipers stayed in Brazil? What did they 

 care for green gem-like beetles, after all? The only 

 decorations they ever wore were big dark polka dots on 

 their vests. Perhaps they were all pleased with them, 

 when their old travel-worn feathers dropped out and 

 new ones came in. Who can tell? They had. a way of 

 running their bills through their plumage after a bath, 

 as if they liked to comb their pretty feathers. 



Be that as it may, there was something beneath their 



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