The Old Orchard Bully 



So Peter hopped to a place where he could get 

 a good view of Jenny Wren's old home and still 

 not be too far from the safety of the old stone 

 wall. Jenny Wren's old home had been in a 

 hole in one of the old apple-trees. Looking over 

 to it, Peter could see Mrs. Bully sitting in the 

 little round doorway and quite filling it. She 

 was shrieking excitedly. Hopping and flitting 

 from twig to twig close by were Jenny and Mr. 

 Wren, their tails pointing almost straight up to 

 the sky, and scolding as fast as they could make 

 their tongues go. Flying savagely at one and 

 then at the other, and almost drowning their 

 voices with his own harsh cries, was Bully him- 

 self. He was perhaps one fourth larger than 

 Mr. Wren, although he looked half again as big. 

 But for the fact that his new spring suit was very 

 dirty, due to his fondness for taking dust baths 

 and the fact that he cares nothing about his 

 personal appearance and takes no care of himself, 

 he would have been a fairly good-looking fellow. 

 His back was more or less of an ashy color with 

 black and chestnut stripes. His wings were 

 brown with a white bar on each. His throat and 

 breast were black, and below that he was of a 

 dirty white. The sides of his throat were white 

 and the back of his neck chestnut. 



By ruffling up his feathers and raising his wings 

 [9] 



