When Blacky cries “Caw, caw, caw, caw!” As if he'd dislocate his jaw,
His relatives all hasten where He waits them with a crafty air. They
know that there is mischief afoot, and the Crow family is always ready
for mischief. So on this particular morning when they heard Blacky
cawing at the top of his lungs from the tallest pine-tree in the Green
Forest, they hastened over there as fast as they could fly, calling to
each other excitedly and sure that they were going to have a good time
of some kind.
Blacky chuckled as he saw them coming. “Come on! Come on! Caw, caw, caw!
Hurry up and flap your wings faster. I know where Hooty the Owl is, and
we'll have no end of fun with him,” he cried.
“Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!” shouted all his relatives in great glee.
“Where is he? Lead us to him. We'll drive him out of the Green Forest!”
So Blacky led the way over to the most lonesome corner of the Green
Forest, straight to the tree in which Hooty the Owl was comfortably
sleeping. Blacky had taken pains to slip over early that morning and
make sure just where he was. He had discovered Hooty fast asleep, and
he knew that he would remain right where he was until dark. You know
Hooty's eyes are not meant for much use in bright light, and the
brighter the light, the more uncomfortable his eyes feel. Blacky knows
this, too, and he had chosen the very brightest part of the morning to
call his relatives over to torment poor Hooty. Jolly, round, bright Mr.
Sun was shining his very brightest, and the white snow on the ground
made it seem brighter still. Even Blacky had to blink, and he knew that
poor Hooty would find it harder still.
But one thing Blacky was very careful not to even hint of, and that was
that Mrs. Hooty was right close at hand. Mrs. Hooty is bigger and even
more fierce than Hooty, and Blacky didn't want to frighten any of the
more timid of his relatives. What he hoped down deep in his crafty heart
was that when they got to teasing and tormenting Hooty and making the
great racket which he knew they would, Mrs. Hooty would lose her temper
and fly over to join Hooty in trying to drive away the black tormentors.
Then Blacky would slip over to the nest which she had left unguarded and
steal one and perhaps both of the eggs he knew were there.
When they reached the tree where Hooty was, he was blinking his great
yellow eyes and had fluffed out all his feathers, which is a way he has
when he is angry, to make himself look twice as big as he really is. Of
course, he had heard the noisy crew coming, and he knew well enough what
to expect. As soon as they saw him, they began to scream as loud as
ever they could and to call him all manner of names. The boldest of them
would dart at him as if to pull out a mouthful of feathers, but took
the greatest care not to get too near. You see, the way Hooty hissed and
snapped his great bill was very threatening, and they knew that if once
he got hold of one of them with those big cruel claws of his, that would
be the end.
So they were content to simply scold and scream at him and fly around
him, just out of reach, and make him generally uncomfortable, and they
were so busy doing this that no one noticed that Blacky was not joining
in the fun, and no one paid any attention to the old tumble-down nest
of Redtail the Hawk only a few trees distant. So far Blacky's plans were
working out just as he had hoped.