repeat against the unknown thief all the threats they
had made against Blacky the Crow. They knew it couldn't have been Blacky
this time because they had heard Blacky cawing over on the edge of the
Green Forest. In the midst of the excited discussion as to who the thief
was, Weaver the Orchard Oriole spied a blue and white feather on the
ground just below Chebec's nest.

"It was Sammy Jay! There is no doubt about it, it was Sammy Jay!" he
cried.

At the sight of that telltale feather all the birds knew that Weaver was
right, and led by Scrapper the Kingbird they began a noisy search of the
Old Orchard for the sly robber. But Sammy wasn't to be found, and they
soon gave up the search, none daring to stay longer away from his
own home lest something should happen there. Welcome and Mrs. Robin
continued to cry mournfully, but little Mr. and Mrs. Chebec bore their
trouble almost silently.

"There is one thing about it," said Mr. Chebec to his sorrowful little
wife, "that egg of Sally Sly's went with the rest, and we won't have to
raise that bothersome orphan."

"That's true," said she. "There is no use crying over what can't be
helped. It is a waste of time to sit around crying. Come on, Chebec,
let's look for a place to build another nest. Next time I won't leave
the eggs unwatched for a minute."

Meanwhile Jenny Wren's tongue was fairly flying as she chattered to
Peter Rabbit, who had come up in the midst of the excitement and of
course had to know all about it.

"Blacky the Crow has a heart as black as his coat, and his cousin Sammy
Jay isn't much better," declared Jenny. "They belong to a family of
robbers."

"Wait a minute," cried Peter. "Do you mean to say that Blacky the Crow
and Sammy Jay are cousins?"

"For goodness' sake, Peter!" exclaimed Jenny, "do you mean to say that
you don't know that? Of course they're cousins. They don't look much
alike, but they belong to the same family. I would expect almost
anything bad of any one as black as Blacky the Crow. But how such
a handsome fellow as Sammy Jay can do such dreadful things I don't
understand. He isn't as bad as Blacky, because he does do a lot of good.
He destroys a lot of caterpillars and other pests.

"There are no sharper eyes anywhere than those of Sammy Jay, and I'll
have to say this for him, that whenever he discovers any danger he
always gives us warning. He has saved the lives of a good many of us
feathered folks in this way. If it wasn't for