The Burgess Bird Book for Children 



the Laughing Brook comes out of the Green 

 Forest on its way to the Smiling Pool in the Green 

 Meadows. Bushes and young trees grow along 

 the banks of the Laughing Brook at this point. 

 The ground was soft in places, quite muddy. 

 Peter doesn't mind getting his feet damp, so he 

 hopped along carelessly. From right under his 

 very nose something shot up into the air with a 

 whistling sound. It startled Peter so that he 

 stopped short with his eyes popping out of his 

 head. He had just a glimpse of a brown form 

 disappearing over the tops of some tall bushes. 

 Then Peter chuckled. "I declare," said he, "I 

 had forgotten all about my old friend, Longbill 

 the Woodcock. He scared me for a second." 



"Then you are even," said a voice close at hand. 

 "You scared him. I saw you coming, but Long- 

 bill didn't." 



Peter turned quickly. There was Mrs. Wood- 

 cock peeping at him from behind a tussock of 

 grass. 



"I didn't mean to scare him," apologized Peter. 

 "I really didn't mean to. Do you think he was 

 really very much scared?" 



"Not too scared to come back, anyway," said 

 Longbill himself, dropping down just in front of 

 Peter. "I recognized you just as I was disap- 

 pearing over the tops of the bushes, so I came right 

 [62] 



