The Watchman of the Old Orchard 



"Do you live on bees altogether?" asked Peter. 



"Bless your heart, Peter, no," replied Scrapper 

 with a chuckle. "There wouldn't be any honey 

 if I did. I like bees. I like them first rate. But 

 they form only a very small part of my food. 

 Those that I do catch are mostly drones, and you 

 know the drones are useless. They do no work 

 at all. It is only by accident that I now and 

 then catch a worker. I eat all kinds of insects 

 that fly and some that don't. I'm one of Farmer 

 Brown's best friends, if he did but know it. You 

 can talk all you please about the wonderful eye- 

 sight of the members of the Hawk family, but if 

 any one of them has better eyesight than I have, 

 I'd like to know who it is. There's a fly 'way 

 over there beyond that old apple-tree; watch 

 me catch it." 



Peter knew better than to waste any effort 

 trying to see that fly. He knew that he couldn't 

 have seen it had it been only one fourth that dis- 

 tance away. But if he couldn't see the fly he 

 could hear the sharp click of Scrapper's bill, and 

 he knew by the way Scrapper kept opening and 

 shutting his mouth after his return that he had 

 caught that fly and it had tasted good. 



"Are you going to build in the Old Orchard 

 this year?" asked Peter. 



"Of course I am," declared Scrapper. "I " 

 [49] 



