orn-tree, Peter. For my part I hope he'll frighten Bully into
leaving the Old Orchard. It would be a good thing for the rest of us."

"But I don't understand yet why he fastens his victims on those long
thorns," said Peter.

"For two reasons," replied Skimmer. "When he catches more grasshoppers
and other insects than he can eat, he sticks them on those thorns so
that later he may be sure of a good meal if it happens there are no more
to be caught when he is hungry. Mice, Sparrows, and things too big
for him to swallow he sticks on the thorns so that he can pull them to
pieces easier. You see his feet and claws are not big and stout enough
to hold his victims while he tears them to pieces with his hooked bill.
Sometimes, instead of sticking them on thorns, he sticks them on the
barbed wire of a fence and sometimes he wedges them into the fork of two
branches."

"Does he kill many birds?" asked Peter.

"Not many," replied Skimmer, "and most of those he does kill are English
Sparrows. The rest of us have learned to keep out of his way. He feeds
mostly on insects, worms and caterpillars, but he is very fond of mice
and he catches a good many. He is a good deal like Killy the Sparrow
Hawk in this respect. He has a cousin, the Great Northern Shrike, who
sometimes comes down in the winter, and is very much like him. Hello!
Now what's happened?"

A great commotion had broken out not far away in the Old Orchard.
Instantly Skimmer flew over to see what it was all about and Peter
followed. He got there just in time to see Chatterer the Red Squirrel
dodging around the trunk of a tree, first on one side, then on the
other, to avoid the sharp bills of the angry feathered folk who had
discovered him trying to rob a nest of its young.

Peter chuckled. "Chatterer is getting just what is due him, I guess," he
muttered. "It reminds me of the time I got into a Yellow Jacket's nest.
My, but those birds are mad!"

Chatterer continued to dodge from side to side of the tree while the
birds darted down at him, all screaming at the top of their voices.
Finally Chatterer saw his chance to run for the old stone wall. Only one
bird was quick enough to catch up with him and that one was such a tiny
fellow that he seemed hardly bigger than a big insect. It was Hammer the
Hummingbird. He followed Chatterer clear to the old stone wall. A moment
later Peter heard a humming noise just over his head and looked up to
see Hummer himself alight on a