226 SHAKESPEARE'S [OWL. 



Owl. 



THE Owl is a wild bird charged with feathers, but she 

 is always with-holden with sloth, and is feeble to fly, and 

 dwelleth by graves by day and by night, and in chines. 

 And diviners tell that they betoken evil ; for if the Owl 

 be seen in a city, it signifieth destruction and waste. The 

 chough fighteth with the Owl, and taketh the Owl's eggs, 

 and eateth them by day, and the Owl eateth the chough's 

 eggs by night. The crying of the Owl by night tokeneth 

 death. The Owl is fed with dirt, and with other unclean 

 things. Bartholomew (Berthelet), bk. xii. 5. 



IF the heart of an Owl be laid on the left side of a 

 sleeping woman, she will tell all that she hath done. The 

 feet of Owls burnt with the herb plantain help against 

 serpents. They put the ashes of Owls' eyes on madmen. 



Hortus Sanitatis, bk. iii. 16. 



THE Howlet, Screech-owl, etc., when they be hatched 

 come forth of their shells with their tail first ; and by 

 reason of their heads so heavy, the eggs are turned with 

 the wrong end downward. Holland's Pliny, bk. x. ch. xvi. 



IT is a pretty sight to see the wit and dexterity of these 

 Howlets, when they fight with other birds ; for when they 

 are overlaid and beset with a multitude of them, they lie 

 upon their backs and with their feet make shift to resist 

 them. The falcon by a secret instinct and society of nature, 

 seeing the poor Howlet thus distressed, cometh to succour 

 and taketh equal part with him, and so endeth the fray. 

 Howlets for sixty days in winter keep close and remain in 

 covert, and they change their voice into nine tunes. 



Ibid.) ch. xvii. 



FOR the sting of bees, wasps and hornets, for the biting 

 also of those horse-leeches called blood-suckers, the Howlet 

 is counted a sovereign remedy, by a certain antipathy in 

 nature. ibid., bk. xxix. ch. iv. 



IF any man put the heart of an Owl under his armpit, 

 no dog will bark at him, but will keep silence ; and if the 



