"I will call in some of my Rabbit friends," she said, "and let you see them, if you will promise not to be afraid." The next day four of the other little Rabbits had their eyes open, and the day after that they all could see each other and the shining piece of sky at the end of the burrow. It was not so very long afterward that the Rabbit family went out to dine in the forest, and this was the first time that the children had seen their father. Often when their mother left them alone in the burrow she had pulled grass and leaves over the opening to hide it from him, for Rabbit fathers do not love their children until they are old enough to go out into the great world, and it would never do for them to know where their babies are kept. Then their father taught them how to gnaw tough bark to wear their teeth down, for Rabbits' teeth grow all the time, and if they were to eat only soft food, their teeth would get too long. He taught them, too, how to move their ears in the right way for keen hearing, and told them that when chased they must run for the burrow or the nearest thicket. "Then crouch down on some leaves that are the color of your fur," he said, "and you may not be seen at all." "Why should we run?" said the biggest little Rabbit. "Because you might be caught if you didn't." "What might catch us?" asked the biggest little Rabbit. "Oh, a Hawk, perhaps, or a Weasel." "What does a Hawk look like?" "Like a great bird floating in the sky," said Papa Rabbit. "Now, don't ask me a single question more." "Does a Hawk look like that bird above us?" asked the biggest little Rabbit. His father gave one look upward. "Yes!" he said. "Run!" And just as the Hawk swooped down toward the ground, he saw nine white-tipped tails disappear into a burrow near by. [Illustration] THE LITTLE BAT WHO WOULDN'T GO TO BED "Come," said Mamma Bat, flying toward her home in the cave, "it is time that you children went to bed. The eastern sky is growing bright, and I can see the fleecy clouds blush rosy red as the sun looks at them." The little Bats flitted along after her, and Papa Bat came behind them. They had been flying through the starlit forest all night, chasing the many small insects that come out after the sun has gone down, and passing in and out of the tangled branches without ever touching one. Indeed, Mamma Bat would have been ashamed if children of hers flew against anything in the dark. There might be some excuse for such a mistake in the daytime, for Bats' eyes do not see well then, but in the night-time! She would have scolded them well, and they would have deserved it, for Bats have the most wonderful way of feeling things before they touch them, and there are no other people in the forest who can do that. There are no other people who can tell by the feeling of the air when something is near, and the Bats made much fun of their friend, the Screech Owl, once, when he flew against a tree and fell to the ground.