r eggs, it amused her to see the Mate Hares
come limping out at sunset, very timidly at first, pausing, startled,
at every sound. Soon, however, they forgot their fears and began their
dances, hopping and running round and round like mad, and cutting such
capers as quite scandalized the Bob Whites.

"How very odd!" said Mrs. Bob, as she settled herself over her eggs.
"I have heard that the March Hares have a Bee in their bonnets." "Same
family," Bob White replied drowsily. Then Mrs. Bob, pressing her soft
feathers gently upon her eggs, tucked her head under her wing and
slept.

Their dance over, the Mate Hares skipped down to the meadow, where the
dew lay thick upon the clover. "How good!" they said, as they nibbled
and munched. "So sweet and tender, with the dew upon it!" "Who would
eat dry seeds like the Bob Whites?" said one. "And go to sleep at
dusk!" snickered another. "And whistle all day!" said a third. "As
much as to say to all men and dogs, 'Here I am, come and shoot me;' so
silly! Oh, there's no family like the Mate Hares for sense; come,
let's have another dance." So they skipped and hopped and munched
clover until the dawn sent them scudding away to their homes.

Well, at last, upon a sunny June morning, the lonely field was no
longer lonely, neither was it quiet; for the grain was ripe and the
reapers had come. Yes, the reapers had come, and with them came Nip.
Yes, there he was, showing that ugly little red tongue of his, and
poking his black nose into every hole and bush; no place was safe from
those inquisitive eyes and sharp little cruel teeth. Mr. Bob watched
him with a fluttering heart, as he ran sniffing about; suddenly, there
came a sharp yelp, and then Mrs. Mate Hare's cotton tail went flying
over rock and brier, followed by Nip, with his short, inadequate legs.
Soon, however, he tired of this fun, and, trotting back, cocked his
ears at the brier patch, sniffed about it, and crept in. Bob White,
with an anxious call, flew into a tree.

"He's got a nest somewhere about there," said one of the reapers. "I
bet it's full of eggs," he added. "Yes, but the boss has give orders
that they ain't to be tetched," said another. Then there came from the
thicket a growl and a yelp, and Mrs. Bob, with a loud whirr, flew to
her mate. "Nip's got 'em!" cried one of the men, and, picking up a
stone, he ran to the thicket, from whence now issued yelps of anguish.
"He'll not trouble them again, I reckon," the man s