“But I've never seen Sooty on the trunk of a tree,” protested Johnny Chuck. “In fact, I've never seen him anywhere but in the air.” “And you never will,” snapped Jenny. “The only place he ever alights is inside a chimney or inside a hollow tree. There he clings to the side just as Downy the Woodpecker clings to the trunk of a tree.” Johnny looked as if he didn't quite believe this. “If that's the case where does he nest?” he demanded. “And where does he sleep?” “In a chimney, stupid. In a chimney, of course,” retorted Jenny Wren. “He fastens his nest right to the inside of a chimney. He makes a regular little basket of twigs and fastens it to the side of the chimney.” “Are you trying to stuff me with nonsense?” asked Johnny Chuck indignantly. “How can he fasten his nest to the side of a chimney unless there's a little shelf to put it on? And if he never alights, how does he get the little sticks to make a nest of? I'd just like to know how you expect me to believe any such story as that.” Jenny Wren's sharp little eyes snapped. “If you half used your eyes you wouldn't have to ask me how he gets those little sticks,” she sputtered. “If you had watched him when he was flying close to the tree tops you would have seen him clutch little dead twigs in his claws and snap them off without stopping. That's the way he gets his little sticks, Mr. Smarty, He fastens them together with a sticky substance he has in his mouth, and he fastens the nest to the side of the chimney in the same way. You can believe it or not, but it's so.” “I believe it, Jenny, I believe it,” replied Johnny Chuck very humbly. “If you please, Jenny, does Sooty get all his food in the air too?” “Of course,” replied Jenny tartly. “He eats nothing but insects, and he catches them flying. Now I must get back to my duties at home.” “Just tell me one more thing,” cried Johnny Chuck hastily. “Hasn't Sooty any near relatives as most birds have?” “He hasn't any one nearer than some sort of second cousins, Boomer the Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, and Hummer the Hummingbird.” “What?” cried Johnny Chuck, quite as if he couldn't believe he had heard aright. “Did you say Hummer the Hummingbird?” But he got no reply, for Jenny Wren was already beyond hearing. CHAPTER XVI. A Robber in the Old Orchard. “I don't believe it,” muttered Johnny Chuck out loud. “I don't believe Jenny Wren knows what she's talking about.” “What is it Jenny Wren has said that you don't believe?” demanded Skimmer the Tree Swallow, as he once more settled himself in his doorway. “She said that Hummer the Hummingbird is a sort of second cousin to Sooty the Chimney Swift,” replied Johnny Chuck. “Well, it's so, if you don't believe it,” declared Skimmer. “I don't see that that is any harder to believe than that you are cousin to Striped Chipmunk and Nappy Jack the Gray Squirrel. To look at you no one would ever think you are a member of the Squirrel family, but you must admit that you are.”