Peter Learns Something About Spooky 



hollow tree, and curiosity made him forget for the 

 time being that he was hungry. "Did you live in 

 that hole all summer, Spooky ?" he asked. 



Spooky nodded solemnly. "I've lived in that 

 hollow summer and winter for three years, " said he. 



Peter's eyes opened very wide. "And till now 

 I never even guessed it, " he exclaimed. "Did you 

 raise a family there ? " 



"I certainly did," replied Spooky. "Mrs. 

 Spooky and I raised a family of four as fine looking 

 youngsters as you ever have seen. They've gone 

 out into the Great World to make their own living 

 now. Two were dressed just like me and two were 

 gray." 



"What's that?" exclaimed Peter. 



"I said that two were dressed just like me and 

 two were gray," replied Spooky rather sharply. 



"That's funny," Peter exclaimed. 



" What's funny ? "snapped Spooky rather crossly. 



"Why that all four were not dressed alike," 

 said Peter. 



"There's nothing funny about it," retorted 

 Spooky, and snapped his bill sharply with a little 

 cracking sound. "We Screech Owls believe in 

 variety. Some of us are gray and some of us are 

 reddish-brown. It is a case of where you cannot 

 tell a person just by the color of his clothes. " 



Peter nodded as if he quite understood, although 

 [3171 



