Music of the Wild 



There is no difficulty A\'liatever in learning the 

 status of owl music among people. Repulsion 

 and shuddering greet it everywhere. I have been 

 making an especial studj' of this, and I think I 

 have learned how it began. 



The Bible contains our first authentic bird his- 

 tory, but ornithologists before that time in other 

 lands, and all of them everj'-where since, are unan- 

 imous in doing all in their power to discredit the 

 vocal performance of the owl. I can not find a 

 single reference to it in the Bible not expressly 

 written for the ])urpose of inspiring fear and re- 

 pulsion. Isaiah says in predicting the fall of Bab- 

 ylon, "And their houses shall be full of doleful 

 creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs 

 shall dance there." 



JNlicali said he would "make a wailing like the 



dragons and a mourning as the oavIs." When Da- 



The vid fell into trouble he became "like a pelican of 



Pariah of |-]^g wilderness and an omI of the desert." Such 



the Forest . . • t>-i i t n i 



quotations constitute the entire Bible record of the 

 bird, and taking their cue from these, — ornitholo- 

 gists, nature writers, and even poets perpetuate 

 such ideas. Proctor distinguished himself by a 

 lengthy o-wl poem, from Avhich I cjuote, — 



In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower, 



The spectral owl doth dwell ; 

 Dull, hated, despised, in the sunshine hour. 



But at dusk he 's abroad and well: 



116 



