er very well. And
he often boasted that there wasn't another bird in Pleasant Valley that
could make a greater racket than he.

To be sure, there was Jasper's cousin, old Mr. Crow. His "_Caw, caw_"
could be heard half a mile away, if the wind was right. But Jasper Jay
always insisted that his own voice was much stronger than Mr. Crow's.
And nobody troubled himself to dispute Jasper's claim.

So Jasper Jay had little to worry about until at last something happened
that made him feel quite uneasy. It was almost noon on a hot summer's
day; and Jasper was resting amid the shade of a big beech tree on the
edge of the woods, where he could look across the meadow and watch
Farmer Green and his boy Johnnie and the hired-man at work in the
hayfield. Jasper was just thinking how much pleasanter was his own
carefree life than theirs when a long, loud call blared across the
meadow. He had never heard that cry before; and he raised himself on
tiptoe, listening intently as the sound echoed back and forth across the
valley.

Though Jasper stayed quite still for some time, waiting to hear the cry
again, it was not repeated.

"I'd like to know what sort of bird that was!" he said to himself at
last. "If he stays in this neighborhood I'll have to drive him away, for
his voice is certainly louder than mine. And I wouldn't let him come
here and insult me like that."

All the afternoon Jasper Jay flew up and down the length of Pleasant
Valley and back and forth across it, hunting for the strange bird with
the loud voice. But he met no newcomer at all.

Jasper had almost decided that the stranger had merely been passing
through the valley. He certainly hoped that such was the case, because
he had no way of telling how big the unknown might be. If he were as
large as his voice, driving him away might prove no joke for Jasper.

By nightfall Jasper began to feel less anxious. To be sure, he dreamed
that he met an enormous bird on the top of Blue Mountain, who chased him
all the way around the world. And when he awoke just before daybreak he
was still frightened, until he remembered that it was only a dream.

"It must have been that fuzzy caterpillar that I ate just before I went
to bed," he thought.

Jasper was himself again all the morning. He had a good deal of fun
teasing a kitten which had lost itself behind Farmer Green's barn. And
he drove Jolly Robin's wife almost frantic by hiding in the orchard and
whistling like a hawk. And