shouted all his relatives in great glee . `` Where is he ? Lead us to him . We 'll drive him out of the Green Forest ! '' So Blacky led the way over to the most lonesome corner of the Green Forest , straight to the tree in which Hooty the Owl was comfortably sleeping . Blacky had taken pains to slip over early that morning and make sure just where he was . He had discovered Hooty fast asleep , and he knew that he would remain right where he was until dark . You know Hooty 's eyes are not meant for much use in bright light , and the brighter the light , the more uncomfortable his eyes feel . Blacky knows this , too , and he had chosen the very brightest part of the morning to call his relatives over to torment poor Hooty . Jolly , round , bright Mr. Sun was shining his very brightest , and the white snow on the ground made it seem brighter still . Even Blacky had to blink , and he knew that poor Hooty would find it harder still . But one thing Blacky was very careful not to even hint of , and that was that Mrs. Hooty was right close at hand . Mrs. Hooty is bigger and even more fierce than Hooty , and Blacky did n'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 XXXXX 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 .
Blacky Forest Hooty Owl Sun dart left morning right tormentors