to certain Natural Objects, 549 



So well known and established was the character of the 

 owl as a bird of omen, that Shakspeare uses the term meta- 

 phorically, applying it to inauspicious persons : — 



" Thou ominous and fearful owl of death. 

 Our nation's terror, and their bloody scourge ! '* 



Henry F/., part i. 



Again, in the Third Part of Henry F/., Edward, speaking of 

 Clifford, says : — 



" Bring forth that fatal scritch-owt to our house, 

 That nothing sung but death to us and ours." 



Speaking once, in defence of these birds, to a very respectable 

 man-servant, who disliked them so much as to express a wish 

 that they should be destroyed, I said I thought them very 

 inoffensive and amusing, if not useful, creatures. '* I don't 

 know. Sir, for that," he replied ; " but I know I find them 

 very bad company, when I get up at four or five o'clock on a 

 winter's morning to brew." [See Mr. Bree in continuation, 

 in p. 593.] 



\_RooJcs are reputed to leave a Rookery at the Death of the 

 Owner of it^ Sj-c.^ — A medical friend has lately informed me 

 that a notion prevails with some, that the rooks will leave the 

 rookery on the death of the owner or other member of the 

 family. Being, on one occasion, in professional attendance 

 on a lady during her last illness, he tells me, that, shortly 

 before her dissolution, when it became apparent that she 

 could not survive many hours, it was remarked to him by 

 some one in the house : — "I wonder whether the rooks will 

 leave the rookery on this occasion : they did so on. the decease 



of the late — (the former possessor); and likewise on that 



of his brother, who preceded him." The birds in the present 

 instance, I am told, were only a trifle out in their calculation : 

 they quitted the next morning ; though the patient, contrary 

 to all expectation, lingered through the day, and was not 

 released (if 1 rightly remember) till the evening of the day 

 following. I do not know at what period of the year the 

 above-mentioned circumstance took place ; and this is an 

 important point in the present case, as the rooks (except, 

 perhaps, in very large rookeries), do not abide constantly in 

 their breeding-places, but merely pay them occasional visits. 



[ Toads found incarcerated.'] — We are for ever seeing 

 accounts in the newspapers, and elsewhere, of toads being 

 found alive embedded in solid wood or stone, or even in blocks 

 of marble [see VI. 458—459.] : it is not for me to say that 

 such reports are altogether without foundation, or unworthy 

 of credit. [See in VII. 519.] In felling a tree, when the 

 axe comes in contact (as it frequently does) with a more than 



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