Some Feathered Diggers 



Peter took a short cut across the Green Meadows. 

 It took him past a certain tall, dead tree. A 

 sharp cry of "Kill-ee, kill-ee, kill-ee!" caused 

 Peter to look up just in time to see a trim, hand- 

 some bird whose body was about the size of 

 Sammy Jay's but whose longer wings and longer 

 tail made him look bigger. One glance was 

 enough to tell Peter that this was a member of 

 the Hawk family, the smallest of the family. It 

 was Killy the Sparrow Hawk. He is too small 

 for Peter to fear him, so now Peter was possessed 

 of nothing more than a very lively curiosity, and 

 sat up to watch. 



Out over the meadow grass Killy sailed. Sud- 

 denly, with beating wings, he kept himself in 

 one place in the air and then dropped down into 

 the grass. He was up again in an instant, and 

 Peter could see that he had a fat grasshopper in 

 his claws. Back to the top of the tall, dead tree 

 he flew and there ate the grasshopper. When it 

 was finished he sat up straight and still, so still 

 that he seemed a part of the tree itself. With 

 those wonderful eyes of his he was watching for 

 another grasshopper or for a careless Meadow 

 Mouse. 



Very trim and handsome was Killy. His back 

 was reddish-brown crossed by bars of black. 

 His tail was reddish-brown with a band of black 

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