230 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



call of the Screech-Owl. For it was a very old tradition 

 that associated this bird with things of dread, and they 

 did but repeat, around the crackling winter fire, stories 

 and fancies which had come down to them from their 

 fathers. 



Indeed, we find that the ancient Romans disliked and 

 feared the Screech-Owl. There is a passage in a quaint old 

 English translation of Pliny's Natural History which I 

 may quote here. That interesting old writer says, " The 

 Scritche-Owle betokeneth alwaies some heavie newes, and 

 is most execrable [hateful] and accursed. He keepeth 

 ever in the deserts, and loveth not only such unpeopled 

 places, but also those that are horrible hard of accesse. 

 In summer, he is the verie monster of the night, neither 

 crying, nor singing out cleare, but uttering a certaine 

 heavie grone of doleful moning." 



In one of his letters, Gilbert White of Selborne, who 

 lived and wrote in the eighteenth century, when rural 

 England was by no means rid of such fears, says of the 

 alarming cry of the Screech-Owl, " I have known a whole 

 village up in arms on such an occasion, imagining the 

 churchyard to be full of goblins and spectres." And 

 he adds, "White Owls often scream horribly as they 

 fly along. From this screaming probably arose the 

 people's imaginary species of Screech-Owl which they 

 superstitiously think attends the windows of dying 

 persons." 



The cause of all these fears is a comparatively small 

 bird (without his very abundant feathers he is not much 

 larger than a pigeon). But he is full of spirit, and when 

 he wants to he can hurt. Many an unthinking person 

 who has attempted to seize him has had the sharp claws 

 driven deep into his hand. And as for dogs and other 



