178 OWLS. 



Tving of an Owl is provided with feathers so remark- 

 ably soft and pliant, that in striking the air, they 

 make no resistance or rushing noise; and the bird 

 is, therefore, enabled to steal along silently, in a 

 manner very different from many other birds, such 

 as wild Ducks, the whistling of whose wings may, 

 particularly in a still night, be heard at a great dis- 

 tance : or even as the Plover, whose large soft flap- 

 ping wings, at first sight, much resemble an Owl's, but 

 which produce a well-known whirring sort of sound, 

 as they wheel round and round in airy circles. 



There is something so peculiar in the solemnity 

 and secluded habits of this tribe of birds, that they 

 have in all ages been regarded with a degree of 

 superstitious feeling. Amongst the North Ame- 

 rican Indians, it is customary for the priest or con- 

 juror, on their most solemn meetings, to cover his 

 head with the snowy skin of the great White 

 Northern Owl; and by the ancients, parts of its 

 body were foolishly supposed to possess a sort of 

 magical power; for instance, they imagined that 

 the heart of a Screech- Owl laid upon the breast of a 

 sleeping person, would cause him to divulge secrets; 

 or that, if carried into battle, it would inspire 

 courage and avert danger. In this country, people 

 of former days always considered it as a bird fore- 

 boding mischief, and it was customary to hunt them 

 on Christmas-eve; and even in later times, super- 

 stitious persons have thought that the sudden 

 appearance of an Owl during the sickness of any 

 member of the family, was a sure forerunner of 

 death. These conceits, wiser people have long 

 since thrown aside, but nevertheless, there is some- 



