BLACKY THE CROW
By THORNTON W. BURGESS
Blacky the Crow
By Thornton W. Burgess
Illustrated by Harrison Cady
Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-7117-0
eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-7118-7
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Cover Image: a detail of an illustration by Harrison Cady, published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, c. 1922.
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CONTENTS
I. BLACKY THE CROW MAKES A DISCOVERY
III. BLACKY FINDS OUT WHO OWNS THE EGGS
VI. HOOTY THE OWL DOESN’T STAY STILL
VII. BLACKY TRIES ANOTHER PLAN
VIII. HOOTY COMES TO MRS. HOOTY’S AID
IX: BLACKY THINKS OF FARMER BROWN’S BOY
X: FARMER BROWN’S BOY AND HOOTY
XI. FARMER BROWN’S BOY IS TEMPTED
XIII. BLACKY HAS A CHANGE OF HEART
XV. BLACKY DOES A LITTLE LOOKING ABOUT
XVII. BLACKY WATCHES A QUEER PERFORMANCE
XVIII. BLACKY BECOMES VERY SUSPICIOUS
XIX: BLACKY MAKES MORE DISCOVERIES
XXIII. BLACKY CALLS FARMER BROWN’S BOY
XXIV. FARMER BROWN’S BOY DOES SOME THINKING
XXV. BLACKY GETS A DREADFUL SHOCK
XXVI. WHY THE HUNTER GOT NO DUCKS
XXVIII. BLACKY HAS A TALK WITH DUSKY THE BLACK DUCK
XXX: BLACKY SCREWS UP HIS COURAGE
XXXI. AN EGG THAT WOULDN’T BEHAVE
XXXII. WHAT BLACKY DID WITH THE STOLEN EGG
I. Blacky The Crow Makes A Discovery
Blacky the Crow is always watching for things not intended for his sharp eyes. The result is that he gets into no end of trouble which he could avoid. In this respect he is just like his cousin, Sammy Jay. Between them they see a great deal with which they have no business and which it would be better for them not to see.
Now Blacky the Crow finds it no easy matter to pick up a living when snow covers the Green Meadows and the Green Forest, and ice binds the Big River and the Smiling Pool. He has to use his sharp eyes for all they are worth in order to find enough to fill his stomach, and he will eat anything in the way of food that he can swallow. Often he travels long distances looking for food, but at night he always comes back to the same place in the Green Forest, to sleep in company with others of his family.
Blacky dearly loves company, particularly at night, and about the time jolly, round, red Mr. Sun is beginning to think about his bed behind the Purple Hills, you will find Blacky heading for a certain part of the Green Forest where he knows he will have neighbors of his own kind. Peter Rabbit says that it is because Blacky’s conscience troubles him so that he doesn’t dare sleep alone, but Happy Jack Squirrel says that Blacky hasn’t any conscience. You can believe just which you please, though I suspect that neither of them really knows.
As I have said, Blacky is quite a traveler at this time of year, and sometimes his search for food takes him to out-of-the-way places. One day toward the very last of winter, the notion entered his black head that he would have a look in a certain lonesome corner of the Green Forest where once upon a time Redtail the Hawk had lived. Blacky knew well enough that Redtail wasn’t there now; he had gone south in the fell and wouldn’t be back until he was sure that Mistress Spring had arrived on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest.
Like the black imp he is, Blacky flew over the tree-tops, his sharp eyes watching for something interesting below. Presently he saw ahead of him the old nest of Red-tail. He knew all about that nest. He had visited it before when Red-tail was away. Still it might be worth another