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.