"If you don't mind, dear friends," he said, "I must ask you to stop plucking me any more. I really can't afford to lose my fur. It's all the protection I have from the rain, and when winter comes I'll need it to keep me warm."
"But a few hairs to line my nest with won't hurt you," pleaded Mrs. Ph[oe]be Bird.
"No," replied Bumper firmly, "if I let you have some I must do the same to all the others, and I don't want to offend Towhee the Chewink or Mr. Crested Flycatcher or any of the others. I want to be friends with all of you."
The justice of this was recognized by all the birds, and they decided not to press the question; but they were voluble with their expressions of admiration.
"I never saw such beautiful pink eyes before," remarked Piney the Purple Finch.
"Nor such snow-white fur," added Mr. Pine Grosbeak.
"I never knew there was such a thing as a white rabbit in the world," said Rusty the Blackbird.
Bumper could not feel other than puffed up by such remarks, but he tried to hide it from his new friends.
"Are all the rabbits in the woods brown or gray, then?" he asked. "I should like to see them. Do they live around here?"
"Yes," replied the Purple Finch, "but they're very much frightened and keep to their burrows since Mr. Fox came here to live."