ke this one in the nest?" Mr. Crow asked.

"Oh, yes!" the Major answered.

"Were they as big as this egg?" Mr. Crow inquired.

Major Monkey explained that they were not.

"Just as I supposed!" the old gentleman exclaimed. "This isn't a
Warbler's egg. It's a Cowbird's egg. And you've done that Warbler
family a good turn by taking it out of their nest.

"I know Mrs. Cowbird," he went on. "She's too lazy to bring up her own
children. So she sneaks through the woods and lays her eggs in other
folk's nests.... I must tell of this," Mr. Crow added. "People will
think very kindly of you when they hear what you have done."

But Major Monkey begged him not to mention the matter to anyone.

He pleaded so hard that at last Mr. Crow consented to keep the affair
a secret between them. And Mr. Crow couldn't help thinking that Major
Monkey was one of the most modest people he had ever met.

Then the Major opened the egg with great skill, and ate its contents
without spilling a drop.

"Now," he said, "now I'm ready for business."

IX

The Major Has a Plan

"What is your business, if I may ask?" Mr. Crow inquired of Major
Monkey.

"Lately I've been spending my time travelling," the Major replied.
"But you know I'm a soldier. And while I'm in Pleasant Valley I intend
to form an army."

Old Mr. Crow looked somewhat worried when he heard that.

"I hope you aren't going to guard the cornfield!" he said hastily.

Major Monkey set his fears at rest.

"We'll let Farmer Green do that," he said with a wink. "This is what
we'll do: we'll band ourselves together and we'll fight any strangers
that come to Pleasant Valley to live."

"That's not a bad plan," Mr. Crow remarked. "But it's lucky for you
that you didn't form the army before you got here yourself--else we'd
have had to fight _you_."

"Of course!" Major Monkey agreed. "But trust me not to make such a
mistake as that."

"Who's going to be in the army?" Mr. Crow wanted to know.

"Everybody!" the Major answered, with a wave of the hand that took in
the whole valley.

For as long as a minute old Mr. Crow was very thoughtful.

"I shall not care to be in it unless I can be a general," he announced
at last.

"Why, certainly!" said Major Monkey. "Certainly you shall be a
general, Mr. Crow."

Mr. Crow swelled himself up and looked as important as he could.

"Get everybody to come to the edge of the woods, near the pasture,
early to-morrow morning," Major M