, and
his opinion worthy of attention; we cannot spare him." The truth was,
the owl, squinting down, had seen what a plump mouse it was, and he
reflected that if the weasel saw him he would never rest till he had
tasted him, whereas he thought he should like to meet the mouse by
moonlight shortly. "Upon the whole, I really don't know that we need
send for the weasel," he went on, thinking that if the weasel came he
would fasten his affections upon the mouse.

"But I do," said the stoat.

"And so do I," said the fox.

"And I," said Kauc, the crow, settling down on a branch of the pollard.

"For my part," said Cloctaw, the old jackdaw, taking his seat on a
branch of horse-chestnut, "I think it is very disrespectful of the
weasel."

"True," said the wood-pigeon. "True-whoo," as he settled on the ash.

"Quite true-oo," repeated the dove, perching in the hawthorn.

"Send for the weasel, then," said a missel-thrush, also perching in the
hawthorn. "Why all this delay? I am for action. Send for the weasel
immediately."

"Really, gentlemen," said the mouse, not at all liking the prospect of a
private interview with the weasel, "you must remember that I have had a
long journey here, and I am not quite sure where the weasel lives at
present."

"The council is not complete without the weasel," screamed a jay, coming
up; he was in a terrible temper, for the lady jay whom Kapchack was in
love with had promised him her hand, till the opportunity of so much
grandeur turned her head, and she jilted him like a true daughter of the
family, as she was. For the jays are famous for jilting their lovers.
"If the mouse is afraid," said the jay, "I'll fetch the humble-bee
back, and if he won't come I'll speak a word to my friend the shrike,
and have him spitted on a thorn in a minute." Off he flew, and the
humble-bee, dreadfully frightened, came buzzing back directly.

"It falls upon you, as the oldest of the party, to give him his
commands," said Tchink, the chaffinch, addressing the owl. The owl
looked at the crow, and the crow scowled at the chaffinch, who turned
his back on him, being very saucy. He had watched his opportunity while
the crow went round the copse to drive away the small birds, and slipped
in to appear at the council. He was determined to assert his presence,
and take as much part as the others in these important events. If the
goldfinches, and the thrushes, and blackbirds, and robins, and
greenfinches, and sparr