d calls and songs as came from that yellow throat. When it
was over Chut-Chut abruptly said good-by and disappeared. Peter could
hear his sharp "Chut! Chut!" farther along in the thicket as he hunted
for worms among the bushes.

"I wonder," said Peter, speaking out loud without thinking, "where he
builds his nest. I wonder if he builds it on the ground, the way Creeper
does."

"No," declared Mummer, who all the time had been darting about close at
hand. "He doesn't, but I do. Chut-Chut puts his nest near the ground,
however, usually within two or three feet. He builds it in bushes or
briars. Sometimes if I can find a good tangle of briars I build my nest
in it several feet from the ground, but as a rule I would rather have
it on the ground under a bush or in a clump of weeds. Have you seen my
cousin Sprite the Parula Warbler, yet?"

"Not yet," said Peter, as he started for home.

CHAPTER XXVI. Peter Gets a Lame Neck.

For several days it seemed to Peter Rabbit that everywhere he went he
found members of the Warbler family. Being anxious to know all of them
he did his best to remember how each one looked, but there were so many
and some of them were dressed so nearly alike that after awhile Peter
became so mixed that he gave it up as a bad job. Then, as suddenly as
they had appeared, the Warblers disappeared. That is to say, most of
them disappeared. You see they had only stopped for a visit, being on
their way farther north.

In his interest in the affairs of others of his feathered friends, Peter
had quite forgotten the Warblers. Then one day when he was in the Green
Forest where the spruce-trees grow, he stopped to rest. This particular
part of the Green Forest was low and damp, and on many of the trees gray
moss grew, hanging down from the branches and making the trees look much
older than they really were. Peter was staring at a hanging branch of
this moss without thinking anything about it when suddenly a little
bird alighted on it and disappeared in it. At least, that is what Peter
thought. But it was all so unexpected that he couldn't be sure his eyes
hadn't fooled him.

Of course, right away he became very much interested in that bunch of
moss. He stared at it very hard. At first it looked no different from
a dozen other bunches of moss, but presently he noticed that it was
a little thicker than other bunches, as if somehow it had been woven
together. He hopped off to one side so he could see better.