OWLS AND SUPERSTITION 145 



The reason why Owls should so generally have 

 been associated with goblins and ghosts is prob- 

 ably because many of this species are actually 

 out and about during the time these supernatural 

 beings are also supposed to be abroad. The 

 Romans seem to have been among the first to 

 associate Owls with superstitious fancies. With 

 the ancient Greeks it evidently was not considered 

 altogether as being a bird of ill-omen. Homer, as 

 translated by Cowper, seems simply to have con- 

 nected the Owl with long-winged birds : 



" There many a bird of broadest pinion built 

 Secure her nest, the owl, the kite, and daw, 

 Long-tongued, frequenter of the sandy shores." 



Odyssey, Book v., lines 77-79. 



In what kind of superstitious dread the Romans 

 held the Owl can be realised by references made 

 by Pliny and quoted by Mr. Watkins in " Glean- 

 ings from the Natural History of the Ancients": 



" The great-horned owl is of mournful import, 

 and more to be dreaded than all other birds in 

 auspices connected with the state. It inhabits 

 waste places, and those not merely deserts, but 

 dreadful and inaccessible localities ; being a prodigy 

 of night, making its voice heard in no manner 

 of song, but rather in groaning. So whenever 



II 



