40 



ful," 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 shrieked, the fatal bellman, 

 Which gives stern'st good-night." 



And when the murderer rushes in immediately afterwards exclam- 

 ing 



" I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise ? '• 



she replies 



" I heard the owl scream." 



And later on, 



" The obscure bird clamoured the live-long night." 



The awe, no doubt, with which this bird is regarded by the super- 

 stitous, may be attributed in some measure to the fact ol its flying 

 by night 



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

 The time of night when Troy was set on fire. 

 The time when screech owls cry." 



And yet, strange to say, the appearance of an owl by day is by some 

 considered equally ominous. 



" The owl by day, 



If he arise, is mocked and wondered at," 



Again, 



" For night owls shriek, where mounting larks should sing." 



An owl heard at a birth foreboded ill-luck to the infant. Henry VI., 

 addressing Gloster, says : 



" The owl shrieked at thy birth, an evil sign." 



while upon any other occasion its presence was supposed to pre- 

 dict a death, or at least some dire mishap. 



" The screech owl, screeching loud. 

 Puts the wretch that lies in woe 

 In remembrance of a shroud." 



When Richard III. is irritated by the ill news showered thick upon 

 him, he interrupts the third messenger thus : 



" Out on ye, owls I nothing but songs of death." 



One large order of birds, Picarige, from picus, a Woodpecker, con- 

 tains Parrots, Cuckoos, Woodpeckers. Kingfishers, Goatsuckers, 

 Swifts, and Humming birds, and with a few words about some of 

 these I shall brmg to-night's paper to a close. Parrots I shall not 

 say much about, but from their general cleverness and their facility 

 in talking, they are very interesting. It is very easy to be per- 

 suaded that these birds think and reason, and the a propos or 7na/ a 

 propos way in which they introduce speeches, coupled with the look 

 of wisdom which they assume while being spoken to, seem to show 

 that the brain is being employed in thinking. There was a Parrot 

 show in the North of England, where the talking powers of each 

 bird were made the subject of a prize competition. Several of the 

 Parrots had exhibited their prowess, and at last the cover was taken 

 off the cage of a Grey Parrot, who at once exclaimed, on seeing the 

 company to which he was introduced, "By Jove ! what a lot of 

 Parrots," and so gained the prize. 



