THE GREi^T HORNED OWL. 41 



kind about a farm-house, was captured and kept -"or seyeral 

 days, and at length disappeared, no one knew whither. 



Almost every day after this, hens and chickens also dis- 

 appeared, one by one, in an unaccountable manner, till in 

 eight or ten days very few were left remaining. The fox, 

 the minx, and weasel, were alternately the reputed authors 

 of this mischief, until one morning, the old lady herself, 

 rising before day to bake, in passing towards the oven, 

 surprised her late prisoner, the Owl, regaling himself on 

 the body of a newly killed hen ! The thief instantly made 

 for his hole under the house, from whence the enraged 

 matron soon dislodged him with the brush-handle, and 

 without mercy despatched him. In this snug retreat were 

 found the greater part of the feathers, and many large frag- 

 ments, of her whole family of chickens. 



There is something in the character of the Owl so recluse, 

 solitary, and mysterious, something so discordant 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 abhorrence 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 generally introduced to heighten the horror of the pio- 

 iure. 



Iterance and superstition, in all ages, and in all 'sountrieii 



