“Hooty the Owl is a robber, " said he.  “Everybody is afraid of him.  He lives on other people, and so far as I know he does no good in the world.  He is big and fierce, and no one loves him.  The Green Forest would be better off without him.  If those eggs hatch, there will be little Owls to be fed, and they will grow up into big fierce Owls, like their father and mother.  So if I show Farmer Brown’s boy that nest and he takes those eggs, I will be doing a kindness to my neighbors.”

So Blacky talked to himself and tried to hush the still, small voice down inside that tried to tell him that what he was planning to do was really a dreadful thing.  And all the time he watched for Farmer Brown’s boy.

CHAPTER X:  Farmer Brown’s Boy And Hooty

Farmer Brown’s boy had taken it into his head to visit the Green Forest.  It was partly because he hadn’t anything else to do, and it was partly because now that it was very near the end of winter he wanted to see how things were there and if there were any signs of the coming of spring.  Blacky the Crow saw him coming, and Blacky chuckled to himself.  He had watched every day for a week for just this thing.  Now he would tell Farmer Brown’s boy about that nest of Hooty the Owl.

He flew over to the lonesome corner of the Green Forest where Hooty and Mrs. Hooty had made their home and at once began to caw at the top of his voice and pretend that he was terribly excited over something.

“Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!” shouted Blacky.  At once all his relatives within hearing hurried over to join him.  They knew that he was tormenting Hooty, and they wanted to join in the fun.  It wasn’t long before there was a great racket going on over in that lonesome corner of the Green Forest.

Of course Farmer Brown’s boy heard it.  He stopped and listened.  “Now I wonder what Blacky and his friends have found this time, " said he.  “Whenever they make a fuss like that, there is usually something to see there.  I believe I’ll so over and have a look.”

So he turned in the direction of the lonesome corner of the Green Forest, and as he drew near, he moved very carefully, so as to see all that he could without frightening the Crows.  He knew that as soon as they saw him, they would fly away, and that might alarm the one they were tormenting, for he knew enough of Crow ways to know that when they were making such a noise as they were now making, they were plaguing some one.

Blacky was the first to see him because he was watching for him.  But he didn’t say anything until Farmer Brown’s boy was so near that he couldn’t help but see that nest and Hooty himself, sitting up very straight and snapping his bill angrily at his tormentors.  Then Blacky gave the alarm, and at once all the Crows rose in the air and headed for the Green Meadows, cawing at the top of their lungs.  Blacky went with them a little way.  The first chance he got he dropped out of the flock and silently flew back to a place where he could see all that might happen at the nest of Hooty the Owl.