ttle bird told me," retorted Peter
mischievously.

Sammy opened his mouth for a sharp reply, but instead he uttered a cry
of warning. "Run, Peter! Run! Here comes Reddy Fox!" he cried.

Peter dived headlong under a great pile of brush. There he was quite
safe. While he waited for Reddy Fox to go away he thought about Sammy
Jay. "It's funny," he mused, "how so much good and so much bad can be
mixed together. Sammy Jay stole Chebec's eggs, and then he saved my
life. I just know he would have done as much for Mr. and Mrs. Chebec,
or for any other feathered neighbor. He can only steal eggs for a little
while in the spring. I guess on the whole he does more good than harm.
I'm going to think so anyway."

Peter was quite right. Sammy Jay does do more good than harm.

CHAPTER XVIII. Some Homes in the Green Forest.

Reddy Fox wasted very little time waiting for Peter Rabbit to come
out from under that pile of brush where he had hidden at Sammy Jay's
warning. After making some terrible threats just to try to frighten
Peter, he trotted away to look for some Mice. Peter didn't mind those
threats at all. He was used to them. He knew that he was safe where he
was, and all he had to do was to stay there until Reddy should be so far
away that it would be safe to come out.

Just to pass away the time Peter took a little nap. When he awoke he sat
for a few minutes trying to make up his mind where to go and what to do
next. From 'way over in the direction of the Old Pasture the voice of
Blacky the Crow reached him. Peter pricked up his ears, then chuckled.

"Reddy Fox has gone back to the Old Pasture and Blacky has discovered
him there," he thought happily. You see, he understood what Blacky was
saying. To you or me Blacky would have been saying simply, "Caw! Caw!"
But to all the little people of the Green Forest and Green Meadows
within hearing he was shouting, "Fox! Fox!"

"I wonder," thought Peter, "where Blacky is nesting this year. Last
year his nest was in a tall pine-tree not far from the edge of the Green
Forest. I believe I'll run over there and see if he has a new nest near
the old one."

So Peter scampered over to the tall pine in which was Blacky's old nest.
As he sat with his head tipped back, staring up at it, it struck him
that that nest didn't look so old, after all. In fact, it looked as if
it had recently been fixed up quite like new. He was wondering about
this and trying to guess what it meant, when Bl