had left those two or three
downy feathers.

"Ha!" exclaimed Blacky. "Mr. and Mrs. Quack or some of their relatives
have been here. It is just the kind of a place Ducks like. Also some
Ducks like corn. If they should come back here and find this corn, they
would have a feast, and they would be sure to come again. That man who
scattered the corn here didn't have a terrible gun, but that doesn't
mean that he isn't a hunter. He may come back again, and then he may
have a terrible gun. I'm suspicious of that man. I am so. I believe he
put that corn here for Ducks and I don't believe he did it out of the
kindness of his heart. If it was Farmer Brown's boy I would know that
all is well; that he was thinking of hungry Ducks, with few places where
they can feed in safety, as they make the long journey from the Far
North to the Sunny South. But it wasn't Farmer Brown's boy. I don't like
the looks of it. I don't indeed. I'll keep watch of this place and see
what happens."

All the way to his favorite perch in a certain big hemlock-tree in the
Green Forest, Blacky kept thinking about that corn and the man who
had seemed to be generous with it, and the more he thought, the more
suspicious he became. He didn't like the looks of it at all.

"I'll warn the Quacks to keep away from there. I'll do it the very first
thing in the morning," he muttered, as he prepared to go to sleep. "If
they have any sense at all, they will stay in the pond of Paddy the
Beaver. But if they should go over to the Big River, they would be
almost sure to find that corn, and if they should once find it, they
would keep going back for more. It may be all right, but I don't like
the looks of it."

And still full of suspicions, Blacky went to sleep.

CHAPTER XIX: Blacky Makes More Discoveries

Little things you fail to see
May important prove to be.
--Blacky the Crow.

One of the secrets of Blacky's success in life is the fact that he never
fails to take note of little things. Long ago he learned that little
things which in themselves seem harmless and not worth noticing may
together prove the most important things in life. So, no matter how
unimportant a thing may appear, Blacky examines it closely with those
sharp eyes of his and remembers it.

The very first thing Blacky did, as soon as he was awake the morning
after he discovered the man scattering corn in the rushes at a certain
place on the edge of the Big River, was to fly over to t