214 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



began to grow numerous again, and in a short time the 

 sharp-toothed invaders were killed off, scared away, or 

 again went about in terror of their lives. 



" The number of mice destroyed by a pair of Owls in 

 breeding time," he remarks, "must be enormous." And 

 referring to the onslaught which these birds make on rats, 

 "the prey which they are most adapted for catching," 

 he says, truly enough : " Everybody must be glad 

 to encourage any creature that kills the most dis- 

 gusting and obnoxious animal which we have in this 

 country." 



In fact, the more we know of the good work done by 

 this bird, the more we shall all agree with Lord Lilford, 

 who, when president of the Ornithologists' Union, declared 

 that " the fittest place for the destroyer of an Owl was a 

 lunatic asylum." 



But these friendly feelings towards the Owl are com- 

 paratively new. As soon as we go back to olden times, 

 we find the bird regarded in a very different way. 



It is easy to understand why our forefathers were not 

 fond of the Owl. Very few of them knew of the good 

 done by him in keeping down the pests of field and farm. 

 They only saw in him a very unsociable bird with an 

 extraordinary face, who liked lonely places, who went to 

 sleep when they were getting up, and flew abroad when 

 they were all a-bed. 



His weird cry startled them at night. It roused up 

 all the superstitious fears and fancies which stay with 

 ignorance. They connected it with approaching evil, 

 something dreadful about to happen — accident, illness, 

 disaster, death. Any of these things might be foretold by 

 the dolorous cry of an Owl in the night stillness. 



Two things helped to make this fear of the Owl not 



