cried Johnny Chuck hastily. "Hasn't Sooty
any near relatives as most birds have?"

"He hasn't any one nearer than some sort of second cousins, Boomer the
Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, and Hummer the Hummingbird."

"What?" cried Johnny Chuck, quite as if he couldn't believe he had heard
aright. "Did you say Hummer the Hummingbird?" But he got no reply, for
Jenny Wren was already beyond hearing.

CHAPTER XVI. A Robber in the Old Orchard.

"I don't believe it," muttered Johnny Chuck out loud. "I don't believe
Jenny Wren knows what she's talking about."

"What is it Jenny Wren has said that you don't believe?" demanded
Skimmer the Tree Swallow, as he once more settled himself in his
doorway.

"She said that Hummer the Hummingbird is a sort of second cousin to
Sooty the Chimney Swift," replied Johnny Chuck.

"Well, it's so, if you don't believe it," declared Skimmer. "I don't see
that that is any harder to believe than that you are cousin to Striped
Chipmunk and Nappy Jack the Gray Squirrel. To look at you no one would
ever think you are a member of the Squirrel family, but you must admit
that you are."

Johnny Chuck nodded his head thoughtfully. "Yes," said he, "I am, even
if I don't look it. This is a funny world, isn't it? You can't always
tell by a person's looks who he may be related to. Now that I've found
out that Sooty isn't related to you and is related to Hummer, I'll never
dare guess again about anybody's relatives. I always supposed Twitter
the Martin to be a relative of yours, but now that I've learned that
Sooty isn't, I suspect that Twitter isn't either."

"Oh, yes, he is," replied Skimmer promptly. "He's the largest of the
Swallow family, and we all feel very proud of him. Everybody loves him."

"Is he as black as he looks, flying round up in the air?" asked Johnny
Chuck. "He never comes down here as you do where a fellow can get a good
look at him."

"Yes," replied Skimmer, "he dresses all in black, but it is a beautiful
blue-black, and when the sun shines on his back it seems to be almost
purple. That is why some folks call him the Purple Martin. He is one of
the most social fellows I know of. I like a home by myself, such as I've
got here, but Twitter loves company. He likes to live in an apartment
house with a lot of his own kind. That is why he always looks for one of
those houses with a lot of rooms in it, such as Farmer Brown's boy has
put up on the top of that tall pole out in his back yar