and can't find anything else. I don't make a business of robbing
birds the way you do, and you know it. If I find one of your
storehouses and help myself, I am only getting back what you have
stolen from me. Everybody loves me and that is more than you
can say."

"That's enough," declared Old Mother Nature, and her voice was very
sharp. "You two cousins never have agreed and I am afraid never will.
As long as you are neighbors, I suspect you will quarrel. Have you
told us all you know about Happy Jack, Chatterer?"

Chatterer nodded. He was still mumbling to himself angrily and
wasn't polite enough to make a reply. Old Mother Nature took no
notice of this. "What you have told us is good as far as it goes,"
said she. "You said that Happy Jack is all gray excepting
underneath. Usually the Gray Squirrel is just as Chatterer has
described him, but sometimes a Gray Squirrel isn't gray at all,
but all black."

Peter Rabbit's ears stood straight up with astonishment. "How can
a Gray Squirrel be black?" he demanded.

Old Mother Nature smiled. "That is a fair question, Peter," said
she. Gray Squirrel is simply the name of Happy Jack's family.
Sometimes some of the babies are born with black coats instead of
gray coats. Of course they are just the same kind of Squirrel,
only they look different. In some parts of the country there are
numbers of these black-coated Squirrels and many think they are a
different kind of Squirrel. They are not. They are simply
black-coated members of Happy Jack's family. Just remember this.