NOTES FROM MY OLD DIARY. 103 



Who is there among the early settlers that has not 

 heard in the deep stillness of night, from some old oak 

 in the woods or out-building near the house, the deep 

 sonorous voice of the cat-owl calling to its mate ? The 

 hollow notes sound like " Ho — ho — ho — ho," repeated 

 with a pause between each syllable, as if to prolong the 

 echo. 



The Indian notes of lamentation over the dead, " Wo- 

 ho-ha-no-min," seem an imitation of the mournful cry 

 of this night bird. 



An old Irish settler in the backwoods once gravely 

 assured me that the " Banshee," the warning spirit of 

 death or trouble which, he said, belonged to his family 

 when he lived in Ireland, had followed him and his house 

 to Canada. I looked a little doubtful. The old man 

 grew angry because I asked : 



" Did she come out in the ship with you ? " 



" Shure an' why should she not ? " he replied. " Did 

 she not cry all the time me poor wife — God rest her 

 sowl — was in the death thraws ? An' did she not cry 

 the night the cow died ? " 



That indeed was a proof not to be doubted, so I judi- 

 ciously held my sceptical tongue, though I thought it 

 might well have been the cat-owl crying to her mate 

 from an old hollow tree near the shanty ; but it would 

 have been rank heresy to liken a real faithful family 

 " Cry-by-night," or " Banshee '' to a cat-owl. 



Later the old man in rather an aggrieved tone, ques- 



