444 The Great Horned Owl 



The Great Horned Owl. 

 Buho Virginianus. 



This beautiful and majestic bird was called by Buffon, Due de 

 Virginie; by the Cree Indians, Netowky — Oraeesew, and according 

 Xt) Sir John Rit:hardson, by the Indians of the plains of the Sas- 

 catchewan, Otowack Oho. The savages it is said hold it in great 

 respect, as a bird of evil omen, and carry this superstition so far 

 as to be displeased with any one who imitates the unearthly hoot- 

 ings of ihis midnight marauder. 



Wilson, who never looses an opportunity of pleading affection- 

 nately for his Owls and Woodpeckers, remarks that there is some- 

 thing in the character of the Owl so recluse, solitary and myste- 

 rious, something so discor<lant in the tones of its voice, heard 

 only amid the silence and gloom of night, and in the most lonely 

 and sequestered situations, as to have strongly impressed the 

 minds of mankind in general with sensations of awe and abhor- 

 rence of the whole tribe. The poets have indulged freely in this 

 general prejudice ; and in their descriptions and delineations of 

 midnight storms and gloomy scenes of nature, the Owl is gene- 

 rally introduced to heighten the picture. Ignorance and supersti- 

 tion in all ages and in all countries listen to the voice of the Owl, 

 and even contemplate its physionomy with feelings of disgust and 

 a kind of fearful awe. The priests or conjurors among some of 

 our Indiati nations, have taken advantage of the reverential honor 

 for this bird, and have adopted the great Horned Owl, the subject 

 of the present account, as the symbol or emblem of their office. 



" Among the Creeks, the junior priests or students constantly 

 wear a white mantle, and have a great Horned Owl skin, cased 

 and stutled very ingeniously, so well executed as almost to appear 

 like the living bird, having large sparkling glass beads, or buttons 

 fixed in the head for eyes. This insignia of wisdom* and divina- 

 tion they wear sometimes as a crest on the top of the head ; at 

 other times, the imao-e sits on the arm or is borne in the hand. 

 These bachelors are also distinguished from other people by their 

 taciturnity, grave and solemn countenance, dignified step, and 

 singing to themselves songs or hymns in a low sweet voice, as 

 they strole about the town. 



Nothing is a moi-e effectual cure for superstition than a know- 

 ledge of the general laws and productions of nature, no more 

 forcibly leads our reflections to the first great self existent cause 



