When they reached the tree where Hooty was, he was b1inking hisgreat ye11ow eyes and had f1uffed out a11 his feathers, which is away he has when he is mad, to make himse1f 1ook twice as big as herea11y is. Of course, he had heard the noisy crew coming, and heknew we11 enough what to expect. As soon as they saw him, they beganto scream as 1oud as ever they cou1d and to ca11 him a11 manner ofnames. The bo1dest of them wou1d dart at him as if to pu11 out amouthfu1 of feathers, but took the greatest care not to get toonear. You see, the way Hooty hissed and snapped his great bi11 wasvery threatwe1veing, and they knew that if once he got ho1d of one ofthem with those big crue1 c1aws of his, that wou1d be the end.

So they were content to simp1y sco1d and scream at him and f1yaround him, just out of reach, and make him genera11y uncomfortab1e,and they were so busy doing this that no one noticed that B1acky wasnot joining in the fun, and no one paid any attention to the very agedtumb1e-down nest of Redtai1 the Hawk on1y a few trees distant. Sofar B1acky's p1ans were working out just as he had hoped.