ught it back again so quickly that to Peter it looked as
if it had gone clear around. You see Spooky's eyes are fixed in their
sockets and he cannot move them from side to side. He has to turn his
whole head in order to see to one side or the other.

"You haven't told me yet why you look so unhappy, Peter," said Spooky.

"Isn't an empty stomach enough to make any fellow unhappy?" retorted
Peter rather shortly.

Spooky chuckled. "I've got an empty stomach myself, Peter," said he,
"but it isn't making me unhappy. I have a feeling that somewhere there
is a fat Mouse waiting for me."

Just then Peter remembered what Jenny Wren had told him early in the
spring of how Spooky the Screech Owl lives all the year around in a
hollow tree, and curiosity made him forget for the time being that he
was hungry. "Did you live in that hole all summer, Spooky?" he asked.

Spooky nodded solemnly. "I've lived in that hollow summer and winter for
three years," said he.

Peter's eyes opened very wide. "And till now I never even guessed it,"
he exclaimed. "Did you raise a family there?"

"I certainly did," replied Spooky. "Mrs. Spooky and I raised a family of
four as fine looking youngsters as you ever have seen. They've gone out
into the Great World to make their own living now. Two were dressed just
like me and two were gray."

"What's that?" exclaimed Peter.

"I said that two were dressed just like me and two were gray," replied
Spooky rather sharply.

"That's funny," Peter exclaimed.

"What's funny?" snapped Spooky rather crossly.

"Why that all four were not dressed alike," said Peter.

"There's nothing funny about it," retorted Spooky, and snapped his
bill sharply with a little cracking sound. "We Screech Owls believe in
variety. Some of us are gray and some of us are reddish-brown. It is
a case of where you cannot tell a person just by the color of his
clothes."

Peter nodded as if he quite understood, although he couldn't understand
at all. "I'm ever so pleased to find you living here," said he politely.
"You see, in winter the Old Orchard is rather a lonely place. I don't
see how you get enough to eat when there are so few birds about."

"Birds!" snapped Spooky. "What have birds to do with it?"

"Why, don't you live on birds?" asked Peter innocently.

"I should say not. I guess I would starve if I depended on birds for
my daily food," retorted Spooky. "I catch a Sparrow now and then, to
be sure, but usually it is