298 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



day. Nor is the infatuation confined to Europe, as later on. are quoted instances of superstitious 

 dread of the Owls in Morocco and West Africa ; while they are equally held in fear in many Eastern 

 countries. 



The Athenians alone seem to have had a regard for these birds, and an Owl is found on the 

 reverse side of many of their coins, the bird being sacred to their guardian deity, Athene. The species 

 figured is probably the Little Owl (Carine noctua), a bird which is common in Greece. It is difficult 

 fco guess why the Owl came to be regarded as the embodiment of wisdom, unless it was from its 

 having been sacred to Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom, who is sometimes represented as the Owl- 

 headed goddess. 



" The Owlet's wing," writes Mr. Harting,* " was an ingredient in the cauldron wherein the 

 witches prepared their ' charm of powerful trouble' (Macbeth, Act iv., sc. 1) ; and with the character 

 assigned to it by the ancients, Shakspere, no doubt, felt that the introduction of an Owl in a dreadful 

 scene of a tragedy would help to make the subject come home more forcibly to the people, who had, 



r/r \\\P'^ 



LITTLE OWL. 



from early times, associated its presence with melancholy, misfortune, and death. Accordingly, we find 

 the unfortunate Owl stigmatised as the ' obscure,' ' ominous,' ' fearful,' and ' fatal ' ' bird of night.' 

 Its doleful cry pierces the ear of Lady Macbeth while the murder is being done : 



'Hark! Peace! 



It was the Owl that shriek' d, the fatal bellman, 

 Which gives the stern'st good-night.' 



Macbeth, Act ii., Sc. 2. 



And when the murderer rushes in immediately afterwards, exclaiming 'I have done the- deed. 



Didst thou not hear a noise? 1 She replies ' I heard the Owl scream.' And later on 'The 



obscure bird clamour'd the live-long night.' " (Macbeth, Act. ii., Sc. 3.) 



The awe, no doubt, with which this bird is regarded by the superstitious, may be attributed iu 

 some measure to the fact of its flying by night. 



" Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, 



The time when Screech-Owls cry and Ban-Dogs howl." 



Henry VI., Part ii., Act L, Sc. 4. 



* Ornithology of Shakspere. 



