The Burgess Bird Book for Children 



scent of a possible enemy. Very alert was Peter 

 as he waited. 



For a few minutes he heard nothing and saw 

 nothing. Then, near the outer edge of the thicket, 

 he heard a great rustling of dry leaves. It must 

 have been this that had wakened him. For just 

 an instant Peter was startled, but only for an 

 instant. His long ears told him at once that that 

 noise was made by some one scratching among the 

 leaves, and he knew that no one who did not wear 

 feathers could scratch like that. 



"Now who can that be?" thought Peter, and 

 stole forward very softly towards the place from 

 which the sound came. Presently, as he peeped 

 between the stems of the young trees, he saw the 

 brown leaves which carpeted the ground fly this 

 way and that, and in the midst of them was an 

 exceedingly busy person, a little smaller than 

 Welcome Robin, scratching away for dear life. 

 Every now and then he picked up something. 



His head, throat, back and breast were black. 

 Beneath he was white. His sides were reddish- 

 brown. His tail was black and white, and the 

 longer feathers of his wings were edged with white. 

 It was Chewink the Towhee, sometimes called 

 Ground Robin. 



Peter chuckled, but it was a noiseless chuckle. 

 He kept perfectly still, for it was fun to watch some 

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