. "Has anybody
a cold in his head?"

But everyone, including Jasper Jay, declared that he never was in better
health in his life.

"We'll try again, then," the leader told them.

So they started once more. And once more Valentine Veery stopped them.

"This is terrible!" he said with a shudder. "Who is it, please, that is
off the key?"

Nobody answered. But everybody looked at Jasper Jay again. And you would
think that this time he certainly would have felt most uncomfortable.
But he only grinned as if he were enjoying himself hugely.

"We'll try the song just once more," little Mr. Veery told them. But it
was no use. He stopped the singing quickly. "We can't go on like this,"
he declared. "The only thing to be done is to let each member sing the
song alone. And in that way we shall find out who's out of tune. We'll
let our oldest member sing first, and the newest one last," he directed.

So old Mr. Mockingbird, who was the first member of the Pleasant Valley
Singing Society--and about the only one of his family in the
neighborhood--sang the song in his best manner. And after him the others
had their turn, until everybody had sung "Good-night, Ladies!" except
the newest member of all.

"Now--" said Valentine Veery--"now everyone must keep very still while
we have the pleasure of listening to Jasper Jay."

Of course, after hearing the song repeated so many times, Jasper
couldn't help learning a little of it. He began to bellow "Good-night,
Ladies!" in the harshest, most ear-splitting tones he knew. Some of his
listeners hurriedly tucked their heads under their wings, to shut out
the horrid sound. And as for Miss Kitty Catbird, she actually left the
meeting and flew straight home, because she felt that she must scream if
she stayed there any longer. Having a sensitive ear, she could not
endure Jasper's rasping voice. In her opinion, it sounded more like a
buzz saw than anything else.

XVII

JASPER IS ASHAMED

THE leader of the Singing Society stopped Jasper Jay's song as soon as
he was able to. But Jolly Robin's cousin, Valentine Veery, found it no
easy matter to silence Jasper Jay. Though he called to him several
times, Jasper paid no attention to him, but continued to make all the
noise he could. His notes had never sounded so loud and harsh
before--but you must remember that Jasper had been saving his voice all
day for this very occasion.

At last Valentine Veery launched his small, cinnamon-col