60 OWLS 



in which a piano was being played, and would press 

 closely against the instrument itself. 



A curious incident connected with a wild brown 

 owl, and communicated to me by Dr Jacob Cooper, 

 Professor, for more than a third of a century, of the 

 Greek language and literature in Rutger's College, 

 New Brunswick, U.S.A., must find a place here. 

 One morning, 27th November 1899, on going into 

 his lecture-room, he found that a brown owl had 

 somehow made her way into it, and had selected, as 

 a perch, a huge framed photograph of Athens. It 

 was an unlocked for illustration to both teacher 

 and taught, of the proverbial expression " owls to 

 Athens." With a special sense of propriety, too, 

 she had chosen as her resting-place, a spot immedi- 

 ately over the Areopagus, the High Court of Athens, 

 and its most aristocratic and venerable assembly, 

 the assembly which had called forth the passionate 

 pleadings of the Conservative poet, yEschylus, in 

 one of the most impressive of his tragedies, if 

 haply he might save it from destruction. For 

 four whole hours, the "bird of wisdom" sat 

 calmly on, while the Professor gave as many 

 lectures to successive classes of his pupils, listen- 

 ing apparently to his instructions, and quite un- 

 disturbed by the noise made by his pupils as 



