The Burgess Bird Book for Children 



black. She wore no bright-colored shoulder 

 patches. In fact, there wasn't a bright feather 

 on her anywhere. Peter wanted to ask why it 

 was that she was so plainly dressed, but he was 

 too polite and decided to wait until he should see 

 Jenny Wren. She would be sure to know. In- 

 stead, he exclaimed, "How do you do, Mrs. Red- 

 wing? I'm ever so glad to see you. I was 

 wondering where you were. Where did you come 

 from?" 



"Straight from my home," replied Mrs. Red- 

 wing demurely. "And if I do say it, it is the 

 best home we've ever had." 



Redwing chuckled. He was full of chuckles. 

 You see, he had noticed how eagerly Peter was 

 looking everywhere. 



"This much I will tell you, Peter," said Red- 

 wing; "our nest is somewhere in these bulrushes, 

 and if you can find it we won't say a word, even 

 if you don't keep the secret." 



Then Redwing chuckled again and Mrs. Red- 

 wing chuckled with him. You see, they knew 

 that Peter doesn't like water, and that nest was 

 hidden in a certain clump of brown, broken-down 

 rushes, with water all around. Suddenly Red- 

 wing flew up in the air with a harsh cry. "Run, 

 Peter! Run!" he screamed. "Here comes 

 ReddyFox!" 



[72] 



