Squirrel, but
whose real name is Spermophile, which means seed eater. Peter won't
forget that meeting, because of the funny mistake he made and the
foolish feeling he had as a result of it. You see, Peter didn't know
that there was such a person as Seek-Seek. He was hopping along across
the Green Meadows in his usual happy-go-lucky way when, right in front
of him, he saw what at first he took to be a stake, a small stake,
driven in the ground. But as he drew nearer, it suddenly moved. It
wasn't a stake at all, but a very lively small person in a striped coat
who had been sitting up very straight and motionless.

"Hello, Striped Chipmunk! What are you doing way out here so far from
the old stone wall?" exclaimed Peter.

The small person in the striped coat whirled and faced Peter with
snapping eyes. "Don't call me Striped Chipmunk, and don't call me
Gopher!" said he very fiercely for so small a person. "I am neither one.
I am Seek-Seek the Ground Squirrel, and I'll thank you to call me by my
own name. I am getting everlastingly tired of being called the names of
other people."

Peter looked very foolish. "I beg your pardon," said he. "I do indeed.
I'm sorry. Perhaps you don't know it, but you look very much like
Striped Chipmunk, who is one of my best friends. You look so much like
him that I thought you must be him. I wonder if you are related to him."

"Certainly I'm related to him, or he is related to me, whichever way you
please to put it," snapped Seek-Seek. "We are cousins. But he is a Rock
Squirrel, and I am a Ground Squirrel which is altogether different. You
don't find me where there are rocks and stones in the way if I know it.
Besides, if you used your eyes, you would see that we are not dressed
alike either. Just because we both happen to wear stripes is no reason
why we should be mistaken for each other."

Peter looked at Seek-Seek more closely than he had, and at once he made
a discovery. "Why!" he exclaimed, "your coat has more stripes than
Striped Chipmunk's has, hasn't it?"

"I should hope so," retorted Seek-Seek.

"And it has little rows of spots, too!" cried Peter. "If I had noticed
those spots at first, I wouldn't have made such a foolish mistake. I do
believe that your coat is prettier than Striped Chipmunk's, and I had
thought his as pretty as a coat can be."

Seek-Seek looked rather pleased, though he tried not to. "Huh!" he
sniffed. "Of course it's prettier. It took you a long time to fi