84 THE BARN OWL 



very common in Britain, inhabiting every " ivy- 

 mantled tower," church steeple, barn loft, hollow 

 tree, or dovecot, in which it could get a lodging. 

 But it was never welcome. Like the Jews in the 

 days of King John it has been relentlessly persecuted 

 by superstition, ignorance and avarice. Avarice, 

 instigated by ladies and milliners, has looked with 

 covetous eye on its downy and beautiful plumes ; 

 while ignorance and superstition have feared and 

 hated the owl in all countries and all ages. In 

 ancient Rome it was a bird of evil omen. 



Foedaque fit volucris venturi nuncia luctus, 

 Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen. 



In India, to-day, if an owl sits on the house-top, 

 the occupants dare scarcely lie down to sleep, for 

 they know that the devil is walking the rooms and 

 marking someone for death. Lady Macbeth, when 

 about the murder of Duncan, starts and whispers, 



Hark I Peace ! It was the owl that shrieked, 

 The fatal bellman. 



And even as late as the nineteenth century, Water- 

 ton's aged housekeeper " knew full well what sorrow 

 it had brought into other houses when she was a 

 young woman." Witches, like modern ladies of 

 fashion, set great value on its wings. The latter stick 

 them on their hats, the witches in Macbeth threw 

 them into their boiling cauldron. Horace's Canidia 

 could not complete her recipe without 

 " Plumamque nocturnoe strigis." 



