CHAP. 1(1. SUPERSTITIONS. 2'>7 



to be the Owl.* The striking sapient mys- 

 terious and peculiar look of this bird, its 

 occasional and uncertain appearance in towns, 

 and its loud and dismal cry, uttered often when 

 all other birds are quiet, as well as its being the 

 bird of night, are the circumstances which, 

 aided by an occasional coincidence of events, 

 have caused the Owl to be regarded in the 

 light of an evil omen. This, and similar 

 superstitions, will appear less surprising, when 

 it is considered that crafty and designing per- 

 sons had an interest in their propagation. 



The dread attached to Owls seems to have 

 been extended to other birds of the night; a 

 circumstance which rather corroborates the idea 

 that they were dreaded, in a great measure, 

 from being companions of darkness and ob- 

 scurity. Spencer has given us a most woeful 

 catalogue of harmful fowls, in the second book 

 of the Fairie Queene.f The hollow booming 



* There are a great variety of names for the Owl. as well 

 as for other birds, which, by all writers, except natural 

 historians, since the time of Linnaeus, appear to have been 

 used, in a great measure, promiscuously, 

 t Even all the nation of unfortunate 



And fatal birds about them nocked were, 

 Such as by nature men abhorre and hate, 



S 



