ad
as Sally Sly the Cowbird, for she does sit on those eggs and she is a
good mother. But just think of those Nighthawk children never having any
home! It doesn't seem to me right and it never will. Did you ever see
Boomer in a tree?"

Peter shook his head. "I've seen him on the ground," said he, "but I
never have seen him in a tree. Why did you ask, Jenny Wren?"

"To find out how well you have used your eyes," snapped Jenny. "I just
wanted to see if you had noticed anything peculiar about the way he sits
in a tree. But as long as you haven't seen him in a tree I may as well
tell you that he doesn't sit as most birds do. He sits lengthwise of a
branch. He never sits across it as the rest of us do."

"How funny!" exclaimed Peter. "I suppose that is Boomer making that
queer noise we hear."

"Yes," replied Jenny. "He certainly does like to use his voice. They
tell me that some folks call him Bullbat, though why they should call
him either Bat or Hawk is beyond me. I suppose you know his cousin,
Whip-poor-will."

"I should say I do," replied Peter. "He's enough to drive one crazy when
he begins to shout 'Whip poor Will' close at hand. That voice of his
goes through me so that I want to stop both ears. There isn't a person
of my acquaintance who can say a thing over and over, over and over,
so many times without stopping for breath. Do I understand that he is
cousin to Boomer?"

"He is a sort of second cousin, the same as Sooty the Chimney Swift,"
explained Jenny Wren. "They look enough alike to be own cousins.
Whip-poor-will has just the same kind of a big mouth and he is dressed
very much like Boomer, save that there are no white patches on his
wings."

"I've noticed that," said Peter. "That is one way I can tell them
apart."

"So you noticed that much, did you?" cried Jenny. "It does you credit,
Peter. It does you credit. I wonder if you also noticed Whip-poor-will's
whiskers."

"Whiskers!" cried Peter. "Who ever heard of a bird having whiskers? You
can stuff a lot down me, Jenny Wren, but there are some things I cannot
swallow, and bird whiskers is one of them."

"Nobody asked you to swallow them. Nobody wants you to swallow them,"
snapped Jenny. "I don't know why a bird shouldn't have whiskers just as
well as you, Peter Rabbit. Anyway, Whip-poor-will has them and that is
all there is to it. It doesn't make any difference whether you believe
in them or not, they are there. And I guess Whip-poor-will finds t