He didn't finish. Instead, he spread his broad wings and flew back
towards the nest and Mrs. Hooty. His great wings made no noise, for
they are made so that he can fly without making a sound. "If I once
get hold of one of those Crows!" he muttered to himself. "If I once
get hold of one of those Crows, I'll --" He didn't say what he
would do, but if you had been near enough to hear the snap of his
bill, you could have guessed the rest.

All this time the Crows were having what they called fun with
Mrs. Hooty. Nothing is true fun which makes others uncomfortable,
but somehow a great many people seem to forget this. So, while
Blacky sat watching, his relatives made a tremendous racket around
Mrs. Hooty, and the more angry she grew, the more they screamed and
called her names and darted down almost in her face, as they
pretended that they were going to fight her. They were so busy doing
this, and Blacky was so busy watching them, hoping that Mrs. Hooty
would leave her nest and give him a chance to steal the eggs he knew
were under her, that no one gave Hooty a thought.

All of a sudden he was there, right in the tree close to the nest!
No one had heard a sound, but there he was, and in the claws of one
foot he held the tail feathers of one of Blacky's relatives. It was
lucky, very lucky indeed for that one that the sun was in Hooty's
eyes and so he had missed his aim. Otherwise there would have been
one less Crow.

Now it is one thing to tease one lone Owl and quite another to tease
two together. Besides, there were those black tail feathers floating
down to the snow-covered ground. Quite suddenly those Crows decided
that they had had fun enough for one day, and in spite of all Blacky