Music of the Wild 



There is no difficulty whatever in learning the 

 status of owl music among people. Repulsion 

 and shuddering greet it everywhere. I have been 

 making an especial study of this, and I think I 

 have learned how it began. 



The Bible contains our first authentic bird his- 

 tory, but ornithologists before that time in other 

 lands, and all of them everywhere since, are unan- 

 imous in doing all in their power to discredit the 

 vocal performance of the owl. I can not find a 

 single reference to it in the Bible not expressly 

 written for the purpose of inspiring fear and re- 

 pulsion. Isaiah says in predicting the fall of Bab- 

 ylon, "And their houses shall be full of doleful 

 creatures, and owls shall dw r ell there, and satyrs 

 shall dance there." 



Micah said he would "make a w r ailing like the 

 dragons and a mourning as the owls." When Da- 

 The vid fell into trouble he became "like a pelican of 

 Pariah of ^] ie wilderness and an owl of the desert." Such 

 quotations constitute the entire Bible record of the 

 bird, and taking their cue from these, ornitholo- 

 gists, nature writers, and even poets perpetuate 

 such ideas. Proctor distinguished himself by a 

 lengthy owl poem, from which I quote, 



In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower, 



The spectral owl doth dwell ; 

 Dull, hated, despised, in the sunshine hour, 



But at dusk he ' s abroad and well : 



116 



