The Burgess Bird Book for Children

ime. He wasn't ready to go back home to the dear Old Briar-patch, yet there seemed nothing else to do, for everybody in the Old Orchard was too busy for idle gossip. Peter scra

ime. I'll just run over and pay my respects to Grandfather Frog, and to Redwing the Bla

s. Bushes and young trees grow along the banks of the Laughing Brook at this point. The ground was soft in places, quite muddy. Peter doesn't mind getting his feet damp, so he hopped along carelessly. From right under his very nose something shot up into the air with a whistling sound. It start

lose at hand. "You scared him. I sa

s Mrs. Woodcock peeping at him

d Peter. "I really didn't mean to. Do y

so I came right back. I learned when I was very young that when startled it is best to fly first and find out afterwards whether or not there is real danger. I am glad it i

ely fashion. Peter had to hide a smile, for Longbill had such an air of importance, yet at the same time was such an odd looking fellow. He was quite a little bigger than Welcome Robin, his tail was short, his legs were short, and his neck was short. But his bill was long enough to make up. His b

the tail end of a worm disappearing down Longbill's throat. Where that long bill had gone into the ground was a neat little round hole. For the

Longbill. "Mrs. Woodco

ery one?" asked Peter, his

we would take the trouble to bore one of them if we didn

e these worms were so deep in the earth that Peter couldn't understand how it was possible for any one to know that they were there. Welcome Robin could see when he got hold of a worm, but Longbill

of his bill at all. "That's the way I get them," said he. "I can feel them when I reach them, and then I just open the top of my bill and grab them. I think there is one right under my feet now; watch me get him." Longbill bored into the ground unti

"I don't suppose any one else

y. "He feeds the same way I do, only he likes marshy m

lthough I hadn't thought of him as a relative of yours before. Now I must be running along.

ttle bird with fairly long legs, a long slender bill, brownish-gray back with black spots and markings, and a white waistcoat neatly spotted with black. Every few steps he would stop to pick up something, then stand for a second

can. Before Peter could say another word Teeter came running towards him, and it was plain to se

ink of no reason why he shouldn't move. Just then Mrs. Teeter came

. "If you had taken another step, Peter Rabbit, you would ha

t Mrs. Teeter just in front of him. "I don't see an

much like the surrounding pebbles that he never would have seen them in the world but for Mrs. Teeter. Peter hastily backed away a few steps. Mrs. Teeter slipped back on the eggs and settled herself c

eggs if you hadn't warned me," said he. "I'm so thankful I di

ike these pebbles around here that no one sees them. The only time they are in danger is when somebody c