158 OWLS. 



make a prize of mice, and other small animals, which 

 easily hide themselves in the ground, or under grass or 

 heath, great silence and clear-sightedness are necessary, 

 as well as a very acute sense of hearing. Accordingly, 

 the wing of an Owl is provided with feathers so remark- 

 ably soft and pliant, that in striking the air they make 

 no resistance or rushing noise ; and the bird is therefore 

 enabled to steal along silently, in a manner very diffe- 

 rent from many other birds, such as wild Ducks, the 

 whistling of whose wings may, particularly in a still 

 night, be heard at a great distance; or even as the 

 Plover, whose large soft flapping wings, at first sight, 

 much resemble an Owl's, but which produce a well- 

 known whirring sort of sound, as they wheel round and 

 round in airy circles. 



There is something so peculiar in the solemnity and 

 secluded habits of this tribe of birds, that they have in 

 all ages been regarded with a degree of superstitious 

 feeling. Amongst the North American Indians it is 

 customary for the priest or conjuror, on their most so- 

 lemn meetings, to cover his head with the snowy skin of 

 the great White Northern Owl ; and by the ancients 

 parts of its body were foolishly supposed to possess a 

 sort of magical power ; for instance, they imagined that 

 the heart of a Screech-Owl, laid upon the breast of a 

 sleeping person, would cause him to divulge secrets ; or 

 that, if carried into battle, it would inspire courage and 

 avert danger. In this country, people of former days 

 always considered it as a bird foreboding mischief, and 

 it was customary to hunt them on Christmas-eve ; and 

 even in later times superstitious persons have thought 

 that the sudden appearance of an Owl, during the sick- 

 ness of any member of the family, was a sure forerunner 

 of death. These conceits wiser people have long since 

 thrown aside ; but nevertheless there is something so 

 mournful and dismal in its night-shriek, and such a 

 ghostly sort of motion in its silent gliding movements, 

 when seen glancing through the twilight, or hunting for 



