face, all tied up in a red nightcap, he began to scream.

They were no ordinary screams—those shrieks of Jasper Jay’s. That
blue-coated rascal was the noisiest of all the feathered folk in Pleasant
Valley. And now he fairly made the woods echo with his hoarse cries.

“This is the funniest sight I’ve ever seen!” Jasper Jay said at last, to
nobody in particular. “I declare, there’s a pair of them!”

At that, Reddy Woodpecker suddenly stopped laughing.

“A pair of what?” he asked.

“A pair of red-heads, of course!” Jasper Jay replied. “You’ve a red
cap—and so has he!” Jasper pointed at Solomon Owl (a very rude thing to
do!).

Then two things happened all at once. Solomon Owl snatched off his red
night-cap—which he had quite forgotten. And Reddy Woodpecker dashed at
Jasper Jay. He couldn’t pull off _his_ red cap, for it grew right on his
head.

“So that’s what you’re laughing at, is it?” he cried angrily. And then
nobody laughed any more—that is, nobody but Solomon Owl.

Solomon was so pleased by the fight that followed between Jasper Jay and
Reddy Woodpecker that his deep, rumbling laughter could be heard for half
an hour—even if it _was_ midday. “_Wha-wha! Whoo-ah!_” The sound reached
the ears of Farmer Green, who was just crossing a neighboring field, on
his way home to dinner.