is to him. So, because Hooty would simply sit still and hiss and
snap his bill, instead of trying to catch his tormentors or flying
away, Blacky called him stupid. He felt sure that Hooty would stay
right where he was now, and he hoped that Mrs. Hooty would lose her
temper and leave the nest where she was sitting on those two eggs
and join Hooty to help him try to drive away that noisy crew.

But Hooty isn't stupid. Not a bit of it. The minute he found out
that Blacky and his friends had discovered him, he thought of
Mrs. Hooty and the two precious eggs in the old nest of Redtail the
Hawk close by.

"Mrs. Hooty mustn't be disturbed, " thought he. "That will never do
at all. I must lead these black rascals away where they won't
discover Mrs. Hooty. I certainly must."

So he spread his broad wings and blundered away among the trees a
little way. He didn't fly far because the instant he started to fly
that whole noisy crew with the exception of Blacky were after
him. Because he couldn't use his claws or bill while flying, they
grew bold enough to pull a few feathers out of his back. So he flew
only a little way to a thick hemlock-tree, where it wasn't easy for
the Crows to get at him, and where the light didn't hurt his eyes so
much. There he rested a few minutes and then did the same thing over
again. He meant to lead those bothersome Crows into the darkest part
of the Green Forest and there -- well, he could see better there,
and it might be that one of them would be careless enough to come
within reach. No, Hooty wasn't stupid. Certainly not.

Blacky awoke to that fact as he sat in the top of a tall pine-tree