140 BIRDS OF PREY. 



therefore, has been long regarded as a funereal spectre, or a 

 messenger of death, and its unwelcome and familiar visits 

 around the abode of the sick are thought to be little better 

 than a summons to the regions of mortality, among which it 

 delio-hts to dwell. But so unreasonable is superstition that 

 bad and good are sometimes derived from the same omen. 

 Thus the Mongul Tartars pay divine honors to this mis- 

 represented bird, attributing the preservation of the foun- 

 der of their empire, Gengis Khan, to one of its acciden- 

 tal visits to the bush under which he lay hid, his pursuers 

 naturally supposing, that no person could be concealed 

 where this friend of solitude would venture to perch. 



The cry of this nocturnal bird, discordant as it some- 

 times appears, is still in harmony with the scenes and cir- 

 cumstances it accompanies, and we may say with Cowper, 



" The jay, the pie, and e'en the boding owl, 



That hails the rising moon, have charms for me : 

 Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh, 

 Yet, heard in scenes where peace for ever reigns, 

 And only these, please highly for their sake." 



Nor are we to suppose that the cries of the Owl are 

 only plaints and sounds of distress and inquietude. 

 They are not left by nature as spectacles of derision, but 

 have their calls of complaisance, of recognition, and at- 

 tachment, which, though discordant to human ears, are 

 yet only ordinary expressions of agreement and necessity. 

 Superstition laid aside, the owl renders essential 

 service to the farmer by destroying mice, rats, and shrews, 

 which infest houses and barns ; it also catches bats and 

 beetles. They likewise clear churches of such vermin, 

 and now and then, pressed by hunger, probably, they have 

 been known to sip, or rather eat, the oil from the lamps 

 when congealed by cold. A still more extraordinary appe- 

 tite, attributed to the owl, is that of catching fish, on 



