THE OWLS 215 



unnatural : its ghostly silent stealthy flight, and the fact 

 of its being a bird of prey. 



The peoples of the ancient world had much to say 

 about the Owl. There are quite a number of allusions in 

 the books of the Old Testament. But it is rather striking 

 to notice that this bird is there mentioned, not as a thing 

 of terror, but as a sign and token of the loneliness and 

 dreariness of the place spoken of 



For example, in the Book of Isaiah we read : " There 

 shall the Great Owl make her nest, and lay and hatch and 

 gather under her shadow." And in a previous verse : " The 

 Owl also shall dwell in it : and He shall stretch out upon 

 it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness." And 

 in the Book of Jeremiah : " Therefore the wild beasts of the 

 desert shall dwell there . . . and the Owls shall dwell 

 therein." 



The ancient Egyptians seem to have venerated the 

 Owl. Occasionally they went so far as to embalm it after 

 death. And it appears fairly frequently in those wonder- 

 ful sculptures which have lasted so surprisingly all these 

 thousands of years. 



Among the Greeks, the Owl had the honour of a place 

 at the side of Pallas Athene — the wise-looking bird at- 

 tending the goddess of wisdom. That fact came to my 

 remembrance one night, years ago, in Athens, as I climbed 

 the path leading up to the Parthenon, her most famous 

 temple. The white radiance of the full moon was bathing 

 the ruined columns and the great open expanse of the 

 pavement floor. But, from the dark shadows of the Acro- 

 polis, came clear and startling the hoot of Athena's bird 

 hiding in some cleft of the rocky wall. 



In spite of its being associated with the Maiden Goddess 

 to whom they so often prayed for victory, the Owl does not 



