BIRD LEGEND AND LIFE 



To kill an owl makes one's cows give bloody milk. 



In Syria, the owl is called the "mother of ruins"; in 

 Ireland, "the old woman of the night." 



In Belgimn, scrambled owl's eggs are deemed, by the 

 superstitious, a potent cure for drunkenness. 



In Greece, the owl was sacred to Athena because of the 

 'power of seeing in the night, which both possessed. 



In some European countries dead owls were once nailed 

 to rafters or on doors to avert any evil which their living pres- 

 ence might have brought. 



The blacks of Australia believe that when an owl is 

 killed, a woman's death is sure to follow, as a man's death 

 must follow the killing of a bat. 



Parts of owls were considered particularly efficacious 

 -in witches' potions. Medea, the witches in Macbeth, and 

 many others used them in their brews. 



It is an Indian superstition that if you fix your eyes 

 on an owl and walk round and round him, he will follow you 

 with his eyes till his head is twisted from his body. 



The heart of a white owl laid on the breast over the 

 heart of a sleeping woman was believed to have the power 

 of causing her to divulge her secrets ; and the heart of a white 

 owl, carried into battle, possessed the talismanic power of 

 inspiring courage, averting danger and insuring success. 



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