CHAPTER XXIII 



SOME BIG MOUTHS 



BOOM ! Peter Rabbit jumped as if he had been 

 shot. It was all so sudden and unexpected that 

 Peter jumped before he had time to think. Then 

 he looked foolish. He felt foolish. He had been 

 scared when there was nothing to be afraid of. 



" Ha, ha, ha, ha ! " tittered Jenny Wren. " What 

 are you jumping for, Peter Rabbit? That was 

 only Boomer the Nighthawk." 



"I know it just as well as you do, Jenny Wren," 

 retorted Peter rather crossly. "You know being 

 suddenly startled is apt to make people feel cross. 

 If I had seen him anywhere about he wouldn't 

 have made me jump. It was the unexpectedness 

 of it. I don't see what he is out now for, anyway. 

 It isn't even dusk yet, and I thought him a night 

 bird." 



"So he is," retorted Jenny Wren. "Anyway, he 

 is a bird of the evening, and that amounts to the 

 same thing. But just because he likes the evening 

 best isn't any reason why he shouldn't come out 

 in the daylight, is it?" 



[168] 



