oty belongs to
another family altogether. He's a funny fellow. Did you ever in your
life see such narrow wings? And his tail is hardly worth calling a
tail."

Johnny Chuck laughed. "Way up there in the air he looks almost alike at
both ends," said he. "Is he all black?"

"He isn't black at all," declared Jenny. "He is sooty-brown, rather
grayish on the throat and breast. Speaking of that tail of his, the
feathers end in little, sharp, stiff points. He uses them in the same
way that Downy the Woodpecker uses his tail feathers when he braces
himself with them on the trunk of a tree."

"But I've never seen Sooty on the trunk of a tree," protested Johnny
Chuck. "In fact, I've never seen him anywhere but in the air."

"And you never will," snapped Jenny. "The only place he ever alights is
inside a chimney or inside a hollow tree. There he clings to the side
just as Downy the Woodpecker clings to the trunk of a tree."

Johnny looked as if he didn't quite believe this. "If that's the case
where does he nest?" he demanded. "And where does he sleep?"

"In a chimney, stupid. In a chimney, of course," retorted Jenny Wren.
"He fastens his nest right to the inside of a chimney. He makes a
regular little basket of twigs and fastens it to the side of the
chimney."

"Are you trying to stuff me with nonsense?" asked Johnny Chuck
indignantly. "How can he fasten his nest to the side of a chimney unless
there's a little shelf to put it on? And if he never alights, how does
he get the little sticks to make a nest of? I'd just like to know how
you expect me to believe any such story as that."

Jenny Wren's sharp little eyes snapped. "If you half used your eyes you
wouldn't have to ask me how he gets those little sticks," she sputtered.
"If you had watched him when he was flying close to the tree tops you
would have seen him clutch little dead twigs in his claws and snap them
off without stopping. That's the way he gets his little sticks, Mr.
Smarty, He fastens them together with a sticky substance he has in his
mouth, and he fastens the nest to the side of the chimney in the same
way. You can believe it or not, but it's so."

"I believe it, Jenny, I believe it," replied Johnny Chuck very humbly.
"If you please, Jenny, does Sooty get all his food in the air too?"

"Of course," replied Jenny tartly. "He eats nothing but insects, and he
catches them flying. Now I must get back to my duties at home."

"Just tell me one more thing,"