The Burgess Bird Book for Children 



is what comes of having a cloak so like the color 

 of these nice brown leaves. He isn't the first 

 one who has passed me without seeing me at all. 

 It is better than trying to hide a nest, and I 

 certainly am thankful to Old Mother Nature for 

 the cloak she gave me. I wonder if every one of 

 these twelve eggs will hatch. If they do, I cer- 

 tainly will have a family to be proud of." 



Meanwhile Peter hurried on in his usual happy- 

 go-lucky fashion until he came to the edge of the 

 Green Forest. Out on the Green Meadows just 

 beyond he caught sight of a black form walking 

 about in a stately way and now and then picking 

 up something. It reminded him of Blacky the 

 Crow, but he knew right away that it wasn't 

 Blacky, because it was so much smaller, being not 

 more than half as big. i 



"It's Creaker the Grackle. He was one of the 

 first to arrive this spring and I'm ashamed of 

 myself for not having called on him," thought 

 Peter, as he hopped out and started across the 

 Green Meadows towards Creaker. " What a splen- 

 did long tail he has. I believe Jenny Wren told 

 me that he belongs to the Blackbird family. He 

 looks so much like Blacky the Crow that I sup- 

 pose this is why they call him Crow Blackbird." 



Just then Creaker turned in such a way that 

 the sun fell full on his head and back. "Why! 

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