Natural Hiftory of the Ancients. 7 1 



noftics ; "in vain at fuch a time does the owl as 

 me watches funfet from fome roof-top ply her 

 ftrains of woe far into the night " (" Georg.," i. 

 402). In another poem he dwells upon the 

 hoarfe notes of the owl as compared with the 

 wild fwan's fonorous, mufical fong, " certent et 

 cygnis ululas " (" EC.," viii. 56) ; the very name 

 which he gives the unlucky bird exprefling its 

 monotonous hootings. A common Greek name 

 for the bird was " fcops," which alfo exprefles its 

 hooting. The ordinary word for an owl in Greek, 

 however, comes from the glaucous, or glaring 

 character of the eyes in this bird. From the 

 gleaming, flaming eyes which the poets attributed 

 to Minerva, the owl became her bird, and is 

 often reprefented in ancient art as her fymbol. 

 The strix pajferina (glaucidium pajjerinum of 

 Linnasus) was thus regarded at Athens as the bird 

 of wifdom, and from the abundance of owls at 

 that city 1 arose the Greek proverb " owls to 

 Athens," of fimilar meaning with our " coals to 

 Newcaftle." The drachma, an Athenian coin, bore 

 Minerva's head on one fide, and on the other an 

 owl, and this device continued throughout the 

 whole hiftory of the Athenian coinage. Naturally 

 enough thefe coins were called " owls." The 

 Greek tetradrachms alfo bore the imprefs of an 

 owl, and, in the palmy days of Athens, had uni- 

 verfal currency. Curioufly enough, Mr. R. F. 

 Barton, among the coins which he discovered at 



1 Athene nottua and Athene glaux alfo owe their names to 

 Athena and her city, Athens. 



