EXPERIENCES OF SPORT. 



when I did, he had a leveret in his claw. That 

 they are fierce and very determined sometimes 

 I have not the least doubt. They have, pro- 

 bably, not changed their character since Shak- 

 speare wrote 



" A falcon, towering in her pride of place, 

 Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed." 



He is a bird that finds favour but with few. 

 A great deal of superstition is attached to him, 

 and from what I can learn, from research and 

 inquiry, has always been looked on, more or 

 less, with a sort of dread or evil presentiment. 

 The "Popular Encyclopaedia" remarks, "When 

 it flies or alights it doles out certain lugubrious 

 notes, which, added to the solemnity of the 

 scene, especially when near churchyards, often 

 inspire awe and apprehension in the minds of 

 the ignorant." This idea may, in some measure, 

 be taken from the lines of Spenser, who speaks 

 of this bird as 



" The ill fac'te owle, deathes dreadful messenger." 



Coleridge again : 



" Forth from his dark and lonely hiding place, 

 (Portentous sight !) the owlet Atheism, 



