132 STRIGID.€. 



time and watch her operations with all the familiarity of a 

 favourite cat; no restraint was put upon its liberty, yet it 

 seldom strayed beyond the residence to which it had attached 

 itself. 



This bird amused us frequently hy an exhibition which 

 at last cost the poor creature its life. It was fond of washing 

 itself in a tub of water which usually stood in the place where 

 the bird was kept ; and the dreadful sight baffles all descrip- 

 tion, when this wretch sat on the edge of the tub dripping 

 wet, with its feathers all sticking close to its sides: the only 

 thing imaginable that we can compare the object to, for to 

 call it a creature in that state would be mockery, is the black 

 remains of a burnt paper candle-lighter, surmounted by two 

 glaring eyes. This pastime ended tragically ; the poor owl 

 having once by mistake plunged into a tub of food prepared 

 for the pigs ; and ended his career in consequence of the 

 vessel being deeper than his usual bath. 



The superstitious belief that owls are harbingers of death 

 is too prevalent among the uneducated, and too genenlly 

 known to need mere than a passing observation ; but I cannot 

 forbear to relate a circumstance respecting this subject which 

 occurred under my own observation. My father's gardener 

 had an ailing wife ; and one Sunday morning my father, on 

 passing near the cottage where the family resided, was much 

 concerned to see the man and his two sons in deep mourning, 

 and concluding that the invalid wife was dead, felt rather 

 shocked and pained that he should not have been sooner 

 made acquainted with the loss sustained by the afflicted 

 family, and consequently approached in haste to offer his 

 condolance. He was presently undeceived by the husba'id, 

 who assured him that his wife was as well as usual, but that 

 he nevertheless anticipated her approaching death, which 

 would undoubtedly take place within a few days (I believe 

 nine was the period fixed) as a brown owl had passed over 

 their cottage, and had since been heard nightly to hoot in 

 the very close in which the cottage stood. He explained, 



