bother me. I wonder what he looks like. I believe I'll follow these
tracks and see what I can find."

So Peter began to follow the tracks of the strange Rabbit, and he was so
interested that he almost forgot to limp. They led him this way and they
led him that way through the swamp and then out of it. At the foot of a
certain birch-tree Peter stopped.

"Ha!" said he, "now I shall know just how big this fellow is."

How was he to know? Why, that tree was a kind of Rabbit measuring-
stick. Yes, Sir, that is just what it was. You see, Rabbits like to keep
a record of how they grow, just as some little boys and girls do, but as
they have no doors or walls to stand against, they use trees. And this
was the measuring-tree of the Rabbit whose tracks Peter had been
following. Peter stopped at the foot of it and sat down to think it
over. He knew what that tree meant perfectly well. He had one or two
measuring-trees of his own on the edge of the Green Forest. He knew,
too, that it was more than a mere measuring-tree. It was a kind of "no
trespassing" sign. It meant that some other Rabbit had lived here for
some time and felt that he owned this part of the Old Pasture. Peter's
nose told him that, for the tree smelled very, very strong of Rabbit--of
the Rabbit with the big feet. This was because whoever used it for a
measuring-tree used to rub himself against it as far up as he could
reach.

Peter hopped up close to it. Then he sat up very straight and stretched
himself as tall as he could, but he wisely took care not to rub against
the tree. You see, he didn't want to leave his own mark there. So he
stretched and stretched, but stretch as he would, he couldn't make his