Hello ! There is old Roughleg the Hawk ! He has come extra early this year . I think I 'll go back to warn Nanny . '' Without another word Danny disappeared in the brown grass . Again Blacky chuckled . `` More signs , '' said he to himself . `` More signs . There is n't a doubt that we are going to have a hard winter . I wonder if I can stand it or if I 'd better go a little way south , where it will be warmer . '' CHAPTER XVII : Blacky Watches A Queer Performance This much to me is very clear : A thing not understood is queer . -- Blacky the Crow . Blacky the Crow may be right . Again he may not be . If he is right , it will account for a lot of the queer people in the world . They are not understood , and so they are queer . At least , that is what other people say , and never once think that perhaps they are the queer ones for not understanding . But Blacky is n't like those people who are satisfied not to understand and to think other people and things queer . He does his best to understand . He waits and watches and uses those sharp eyes of his and those quick wits of his until at last usually he does understand .
The day of his discovery of Old Mother Nature 's signs that the coming winter would be long , hard and cold , XXXXX paid a visit to the Big River .
Blacky CHAPTER Danny Nanny Roughleg XVII grass right winter year