CHAPTER IX 

 THE FAMILIAR OF WITCHES 



I FEAR no one would admit that a book of this 

 character was anywhere near complete did it not in- 

 clude at least one chapter on the observances and 

 superstitions connected with owls. Nevertheless I doubt 

 whether I should not have taken the risk of the reader's 

 displeasure had I not been able to avail myself of essays 

 by several men who have handled this large and intricate 

 phase of bird-lore in a way that discourages any rivalry. 

 The Atlantic Monthly for September, 1874, contained 

 an article by Alexander Young on "Birds of 111 omen/' 

 in which one may find treated not only the historic dread 

 of owls, but many similar facts and fears connected with 

 ravens, crows, magpies, and their fellow-craftsmen in 

 alleged diabolism. "Most birds," Mr. Young remarks, 

 "were considered ominous of good or evil according to 

 the place and manner of their appearance. ... It is 

 noticeable that this stigma has been affixed only to those 

 birds whose appearance or voice is disagreeable, and 

 whose habits are somewhat peculiar." The nocturnal 

 owls perhaps fulfil these conditions as well as any bird 

 could. "Their retired habits," to quote Broderip, 78 "the 

 desolate places that are their favorite haunts, their hollow 

 hootings, fearful shrieks, serpent-like hissings and coffin- 

 maker-like snappings, have helped to give them a bad 

 eminence, more than overbalancing all the glory that 

 Minerva and her own Athens could shed around them." 



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