CHAPTER X 



REDWING AND YELLOW WING 



PETER had come over to the Smiling Pool 

 especially to pay his respects to Redwing the 

 Blackbird, so as soon as he could, without being 

 impolite, he left little Mrs. Teeter sitting on her 

 eggs, and Teeter himself bobbing and bowing in 

 the friendliest way, and hurried over to where 

 the bulrushes grow. In the very top of the Big 

 Hickory-tree, a little farther along on the bank 

 of the Smiling Pool, sat some one who at that 

 distance appeared to be dressed all in black. He 

 was singing as if there were nothing but joy in all 

 the great world. " Quong-ka-reee ! Quong-ka- 

 reee ! Quong-ka-reee!" he sang. Peter would 

 have known from this song alone that it was Red- 

 wing the Blackbird, for there is no other song 

 quite like it. 



As soon as Peter appeared in sight Redwing 

 left his high perch and flew down to light among 

 the broken-down bulrushes. As he flew, Peter 

 saw the beautiful red patch on the bend of each 

 wing, from which Redwing gets his name. "No 

 one could ever mistake him for anybody else," 

 [69] 



