BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 135 



commit the very offences of egg-and-game stealing, of which 

 they falsely accuse the owl. 



The literary history of this admirably useful and beautiful 

 bird is a chronicle of calumny and ill-treatment. There 

 is no epithet too bad for it in poetry ; it is deadly, dread- 

 ful, wicked, hateful, fearful, fatal, dire, accursed, curst, 

 unhallowed, obscene, and is called every kind of name, 

 "bird of hate," "of the grave," "of death," "of gloom," 

 "messenger of death," "herald of disaster," "foul bird of 

 omen." " The screech-owle betokeneth always some heavy 

 news, and is most execrable and accursed in the presages 

 of public affairs. He keepeth ever in the deserts, and 

 loveth not only such unpeopled places, but also that are 

 horribly hard of access. In short, he is the very monster 

 of the night, neither crying nor singing out clear, but uttering 

 a certain heavy groan of doleful moaning. And, therefore, 

 if he be seen within cities, or otherwise in any place, it is 

 not for good, but prognosticates some fearful misfortunes." 

 These are Pliny's words, and sum up therefore the collective 

 opinion of antiquity. Nor has this opinion ever changed, 

 for poets in our own century sing of — 



" Birds of omen, dark and foul, 

 Night crow, raven, bat, and owl." 



Little by little, no doubt, the superstition will die out ; but 

 they die so hard, these prejudices of the ignorant, that the 



