When jolly, round, bright Mr. Sun began his daily climb up in the blue, blue sky he looked down on a world of white. It seemed as if every little snowflake twinkled back at every little sunbeam. It was all very lovely, and Peter Rabbit rejoiced as he scampered forth in quest of his breakfast.
He started first for the weedy field where the day before he had found Dotty the Tree Sparrow and Slaty the Junco. They were there before him, having the very best time ever was as they picked seeds from the tops of the weeds which showed above the snow. Almost at once Peter discovered that they were not the only seekers for seeds. Walking about on the snow, and quite as busy seeking seeds as were Dotty and Slaty, was a bird very near their size the top of whose head, neck and back were a soft rusty-brown. There was some black on his wings, but the latter were mostly white and the outer tail feathers were white. His breast and under parts were white. It was Snowflake the Snow Bunting in his winter suit. Peter knew him instantly. There was no mistaking him, for, as Peter well knew, there is no other bird of his size and shape who is so largely white. He had appeared so unexpectedly that it almost seemed as if he must have come out of the snow clouds just as had the snow itself.
Peter had his usual question ready.
"Are you going to spend the winter here, Snowflake?" he cried.
Snowflake was so busy getting his breakfast that he did not reply at once. Peter noticed that he did not hop, but walked or ran. Presently he paused long enough to reply to Peter"s question. "If the snow has come to stay all winter, perhaps I"ll stay," said he.
"What has the snow to do with it?" demanded Peter.
"Only that I like the snow and I like cold weather. When the snow begins to disappear, I just naturally fly back farther north," replied Snowflake. "It isn"t that I don"t like bare ground, because I do, and I"m always glad when the snow is blown off in places so that I can hunt for seeds on the ground. But when the snow begins to melt everywhere I feel uneasy. I can"t understand how folks can be contented where there is no snow and ice. You don"t catch me going "way down south. No, siree, you don"t catch me going "way down south. Why, when the nesting season comes around, I chase Jack Frost clear "way up to where he spends the summer. I nest "way up on the sh.o.r.e of the Polar Sea, but of course you don"t know where that is, Peter Rabbit."
"If you are so fond of the cold in the Far North, the snow and the ice, what did you come south at all for? Why don"t you stay up there all the year around?" demanded Peter.
"Because, Peter," replied Snowflake, twittering merrily, "like everybody else, I have to eat in order to live. When you see me down here you may know that the snows up north are so deep that they have covered all the seeds. I always keep a weather eye out, as the saying is, and the minute it looks as if there would be too much snow for me to get a living, I move along. I hope I will not have to go any farther than this, but if some morning you wake up and find the snow so deep that all the heads of the weeds are buried, don"t expect to find me."
"That"s what I call good, sound common sense," said another voice, and a bird a little bigger than Snowflake, and who at first glance seemed to be dressed almost wholly in soft chocolate brown, alighted in the snow close by and at once began to run about in search of seeds. It was Wanderer the Horned Lark. Peter hailed him joyously, for there was something of mystery about Wanderer, and Peter, as you know, loves mystery.
Peter had known him ever since his first winter, yet did not feel really acquainted, for Wanderer seldom stayed long enough for a real acquaintance. Every winter he would come, sometimes two or three times, but seldom staying more than a few days at a time. Quite often he and his relatives appeared with the Snowflakes, for they are the best of friends and travel much together.
Now as Wanderer reached up to pick seeds from a weed-top, Peter had a good look at him. The first things he noticed were the two little horn-like tufts of black feathers above and behind the eyes. It is from these that Wanderer gets the name of Horned Lark. No other bird has anything quite like them. His forehead, a line over each eye, and his throat were yellow. There was a black mark from each corner of the bill curving downward just below the eye and almost joining a black crescent-shaped band across the breast. Beneath this he was soiled white with dusky spots showing here and there. His back was brown, in places having almost a pinkish tinge. His tail was black, showing a little white on the edges when he flew. All together he was a handsome little fellow.
"Do all of your family have those funny little horns?" asked Peter.
"No," was Wanderer"s prompt reply. "Mrs. Lark does not have them."
"I think they are very becoming," said Peter politely.
"Thank you," replied Wanderer. "I am inclined to agree with you. You should see me when I have my summer suit."
"Is it so very different from this?" asked Peter. "I think your present suit is pretty enough."
"Well said, Peter, well said," interrupted Snowflake. "I quite agree with you. I think Wanderer"s present suit is pretty enough for any one, but it is true that his summer suit is even prettier. It isn"t so very different, but it is brighter, and those black markings are much stronger and show up better. You see, Wanderer is one of my neighbors in the Far North, and I know all about him."
"And that means that you don"t know anything bad about me, doesn"t it?"
chuckled Wanderer.
Snowflake nodded. "Not a thing," he replied. "I wouldn"t ask for a better neighbor. You should hear him sing, Peter. He sings up in the air, and it really is a very pretty song."
"I"d just love to hear him," replied Peter. "Why don"t you sing here, Wanderer?"
"This isn"t the singing season," replied Wanderer promptly. "Besides, there isn"t time to sing when one has to keep busy every minute in order to get enough to eat."
"I don"t see," said Peter, "why, when you get here, you don"t stay in one place."
"Because it is easier to get a good living by moving about," replied Wanderer promptly. "Besides, I like to visit new places. I shouldn"t enjoy being tied down in just one place like some birds I know. Would you, Snowflake?"
Snowflake promptly replied that he wouldn"t. Just then Peter discovered something that he hadn"t known before. "My goodness," he exclaimed, "what a long claw you have on each hind toe!"
It was true. Each hind claw was about twice as long as any other claw.
Peter couldn"t see any special use for it and he was just about to ask more about it when Wanderer suddenly spied a flock of his relatives some distance away and flew to join them. Probably this saved him some embarra.s.sment, for it is doubtful if he himself knew why Old Mother Nature had given him such long hind claws.
CHAPTER XLII. Peter Learns Something About Spooky.
Peter Rabbit likes winter. At least he doesn"t mind it so very much, even though he has to really work for a living. Perhaps it is a good thing that he does, for he might grow too fat to keep out of the way of Reddy Fox. You see when the snow is deep Peter is forced to eat whatever he can, and very often there isn"t much of anything for him but the bark of young trees. It is at such times that Peter gets into mischief, for there is no bark he likes better than that of young fruit trees. Now you know what happens when the bark is taken off all the way around the trunk of a tree. That tree dies. It dies for the simple reason that it is up the inner layer of bark that the life-giving sap travels in the spring and summer. Of course, when a strip of bark has been taken off all the way around near the base of a tree, the sap cannot go up and the tree must die.
Now up near the Old Orchard Farmer Brown had set out a young orchard.
Peter knew all about that young orchard, for he had visited it many times in the summer. Then there had been plenty of sweet clover and other green things to eat, and Peter had never been so much as tempted to sample the bark of those young trees. But now things were very different, and it was very seldom that Peter knew what it was to have a full stomach. He kept thinking of that young orchard. He knew that if he were wise he would keep away from there. But the more he thought of it the more it seemed to him that he just must have some of that tender young bark. So just at dusk one evening, Peter started for the young orchard.
Peter got there in safety and his eyes sparkled as he hopped over to the nearest young tree. But when he reached it, Peter had a dreadful disappointment. All around the trunk of that young tree was wire netting. Peter couldn"t get even a nibble of that bark. He tried the next tree with no better result. Then he hurried on from tree to tree, always with the same result. You see Farmer Brown knew all about Peter"s liking for the bark of young fruit trees, and he had been wise enough to protect his young orchard.
At last Peter gave up and hopped over to the Old Orchard. As he pa.s.sed a certain big tree he was startled by a voice. "What"s the matter, Peter?"
said the voice. "You don"t look happy."
Peter stopped short and stared up in the big apple-tree. Look as he would he couldn"t see anybody. Of course there wasn"t a leaf on that tree, and he could see all through it. Peter blinked and felt foolish.
He knew that had there been any one sitting on any one of those branches he couldn"t have helped seeing him.
"Don"t look so high, Peter; don"t look so high," said the voice with a chuckle. This time it sounded as if it came right out of the trunk of the tree. Peter stared at the trunk and then suddenly laughed right out.
Just a few feet above the ground was a good sized hole in the tree, and poking his head out of it was a funny little fellow with big eyes and a hooked beak.
"You certainly did fool me that time, Spooky," cried Peter. "I ought to have recognized your voice, but I didn"t."
Spooky the Screech Owl, for that is who it was, came out of the hole in the tree and without a sound from his wings flew over and perched just above Peter"s head. He was a little fellow, not over eight inches high, but there was no mistaking the family to which he belonged. In fact he looked very much like a small copy of Hooty the Great Horned Owl, so much so that Peter felt a little cold shiver run over him, although he had nothing in the world to fear from Spooky.
His head seemed to be almost as big around as his body, and he seemed to leave no neck at all. He was dressed in bright reddish-brown, with little streaks and bars of black. Underneath he was whitish, with little streaks and bars of black and brown. On each side of his head was a tuft of feathers. They looked like ears and some people think they are ears, which is a mistake. His eyes were round and yellow with a fierce hungry look in them. His bill was small and almost hidden among the feathers of his face, but it was hooked just like the bill of Hooty. As he settled himself he turned his head around until he could look squarely behind him, then brought it back again so quickly that to Peter it looked as if it had gone clear around. You see Spooky"s eyes are fixed in their sockets and he cannot move them from side to side. He has to turn his whole head in order to see to one side or the other.
"You haven"t told me yet why you look so unhappy, Peter," said Spooky.
"Isn"t an empty stomach enough to make any fellow unhappy?" retorted Peter rather shortly.
Spooky chuckled. "I"ve got an empty stomach myself, Peter," said he, "but it isn"t making me unhappy. I have a feeling that somewhere there is a fat Mouse waiting for me."
Just then Peter remembered what Jenny Wren had told him early in the spring of how Spooky the Screech Owl lives all the year around in a 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.