f a retort.

"The idea!" Mr. Red-winged Blackbird exclaimed to Bobby Bobolink, gazing
after Mr. Crow with an injured air. "He insulted you!"

To his great surprise Bobby laughed heartily.

"Mr. Crow is a wise old bird," he said, "He generally knows what he's
talking about."

"You don't mean to say that he was telling the truth, do you?" Mr.
Red-winged Blackbird demanded.

"I do!" Bobby Bobolink admitted.

Mr. Red-winged Blackbird edged away slightly. Skunks, he knew, would
rather eat a bird than not. And he couldn't help wondering whether a
Skunk Blackbird might be as dangerous.

"Then some people do call you that!" he faltered.

"Yes! But I don't care," Bobby Bobolink answered carelessly. "It's only
because of these clothes I'm wearing at present--black, you know, with
stripes of white down each side and meeting on my back."

Mr. Red-winged Blackbird stared at him.

"Then," he asked, "that's the only way you're like a Skunk?"

"Certainly!" said Bobby. And he laughed so merrily that Mr. Red-winged
Blackbird had to believe him.

"I was scared, for a moment," he confessed. "I was afraid you might take
it into your head to eat me."

Bobby Bobolink seemed to think that a huge joke. And he sang several
humorous songs before he turned to Mr. Red-winged Blackbird and said:

"I can tell you one thing. I'd rather be called a Skunk Blackbird than
a Skunk Crow, any day!"

XIII

MR. CATBIRD'S TRICK

In a clump of lilac bushes near Farmer Green's garden Mr. Catbird made
his home. He was an odd fellow, very friendly toward everybody in the
farmhouse, except the cat, whom he dearly loved to tease. When she
passed through the garden on her way to the meadow to hunt for mice,
Mr. Catbird was quite likely to begin mewing. It always made Miss Kitty
furious to be mocked. And sometimes she crept into the bushes herself,
hoping to surprise Mr. Catbird and teach him a lesson. But she never
caught him.

Now, the cat was not the only one whose calls Mr. Catbird imitated.
Although he liked almost all his bird neighbors and was especially kind
and helpful when they were in trouble, nothing pleased him more than to
sing their songs. Knowing as they did that he was always ready to feed
any nestlings that were left to fend for themselves, and that he was
quick to help any of the small feathered folk to fight an enemy, his
neighbors did not care how much Mr. Catbird mocked them. It was only
his way of having fun; so th