The Burgess Animal Book for Children

er Rabbit. The discovery that he had a big, handsome cousin, Whistler the Marmot, living in the mountains of the Far West, had given Johnny something to think about. It seemed to Johnny su

"does my cousin, Whistler, have any neigh

near neighbor one of the quaintest and most interesting little members of the

nts," replied Pete

see if you really are learning. I wanted to make sure that I am not wasting my time

ame more interested than ever, if that were possible. "I thought you had told

be called a Pika. Some folks do call him that, but more call him a Cony, and some call him the Crying Hare. This is because he uses his voice a great deal, which is something no member of the Hare family does. In size he is just about as big as one of your half-grown babies, Peter, so, you see, he real

Peter Rabbit. You know Peter i

at all. That is, he hasn't any that can be seen. He lives way up among the rocks of the

s home down in under rocks, the same a

e fellow that he can get through very narrow places, an

Jack Squirrel. "Barns! Wh

hey are the places where he stores away his hay, just as Farmer Brown sto

wide open with astonishment. "Did you say hay?" he exclaimed. "Where un

ings grow. Little Chief lives on these in summer. But he is as wise and thrifty as any Squirrel, another way in which he differs from the Hare family. He cuts them when they are ready for cutting and spreads them out on the rocks to dry in the sun. He knows that if he should take them down into his barns while they are fresh and green they would sour and spoil; so he n

t seems to come from nowhere in particular. Sometimes he can be heard squeaking way down in his home under the rocks. Like Johnny Chuck, he prefers to sleep at night and be abroad during the day. Because he is so small he must always be on the lookout fo

s," remarked Peter Rabbit, scratching a long ear with

ew just how easy-going and thriftless Peter w

other Nature. "By the way, there is another haymake

nny Chuck and Happy Jack Squi

" declared Peter promptly. "I

n the rest of you. Stubtail isn't a Beaver at all. His proper name is Sewellel. Sometimes he is called Sh

like Paddy the Beaver?

y Muskrat than he does like Paddy. He is about Jerry's si

y tail at all

tains of the Far West where Whistler and Little Chief live, but instead of living way up high among the rocks he is at home down in the valleys where the ground is soft and the trees g

Chuck quickly, for, you kno

They like to go visiting back and forth. They make little paths between their homes and all about through the thick ferns, and they keep these little paths free and clear, so that they may run alo

Stubtail have?" inquired

s drier than where the runways are made. Mrs. Stubtail makes a nest of dried ferns and clos

id he is a haymaker," remarked Happy Jack Squ

e damp ground and so that the air can help dry them out. When they are dry, he takes them inside and stores them away. He also stores other things. He likes the roots of ferns. He cuts tender, young twigs from bushes and stores away

s?" asked Chattere

ender shoots, but he doesn't do much of this sort of thing. His home is the ground. He is most active at night, but where undisturbed, is out more or le

hat color his coat is

ied Old Mother Nature. "His coat is brown, much the color

ust as the rest of us littl

ne and Yowler the Bob Cat is another. They are always watching for Stubtail. That is why he digs so many tunnels. He can travel