180 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



The little Grecian owl — it is a foreign replica of our 

 own small screech owl, which, as a matter of fact, gurgles 

 rather melodiously instead of screeching — was well 

 thought of in Athens in its prime, and was the special 

 cognizance of the wise and dignified goddess of her 

 citizens, Pallas Athene — Minerva of the Romans. De 

 Kay, 18 indeed, reasons her out an owl-goddess, and it is 

 said that statues of her have been found with an owl's in- 

 stead of a human head. If she was a humanized ex- 

 pression for the moon, as some interpret her, this little 

 lover of moonlight is most suitable as her symbol. There- 

 fore one need not speculate on the reputed "wisdom" of 

 the owl, any owl — said to be proved wise by its being the 

 only bird that looks straight before it — for that reputa- 

 tion is merely a reflection from the attributes of its 

 patron, the stately goddess. Homer makes Athene the 

 special protector of those, chiefly women, engaged in 

 textile crafts ; and there is an old saying that the owl was 

 a weaver's daughter, spinning with silver threads. When, 

 therefore, in the midst of the momentous naval battle of 

 Salamis an owl alighted on the mast of the flagship of 

 Admiral Themistocles, as tradition attests, it was re- 

 ceived as an assurance from Pallas Athene herself that 

 she was fighting with and for the harassed Greeks. The 

 bird is displayed as large as space permits on Greek coins 

 of the period. 



When the Romans took over Athene as Minerva her 

 owl came with her, but its symbolic importance quickly 

 faded. The Italians cared nothing for their little "strix" 

 — had no use for it except to eat it or make it a lure for 

 their bird-catching nets, and even charged it with suck- 

 ing the blood of children ; and they had no respect at all 

 for the rest of its tribe. The language applied to them by 



