THE BARN OWL, 
7 
THE HABITS OF THE BARN OWL, AND THE 
BENEFITS IT CONFERS ON MAN. 
This pretty aerial wanderer of the night often 
comes into my room ; and after flitting to and fro, 
on wing so soft and silent that he is scarcely heard, 
he takes his departure from the same window at 
which he had entered. 
I own I have a great liking for this bird ; and I 
have offered it hospitality and protection on account 
of its persecutions, and for its many services to me, 
— I say services, as you will see in the sequel. I 
wish that any little thing I could write or say might 
cause it to stand better with the world at large than 
it has hitherto done : but I have slender hopes on 
this score ; because old and deep-rooted prejudices 
are seldom overcome ; and when I look back into 
the annals of remote antiquity, I see too clearly that 
defamation has done its worst to ruin the whole 
family, in all its branches, of this poor, harmless, 
useful friend of mine. 
Ovid, nearly two thousand years ago, was ex- 
tremely severe against the owl. In his Metamor^ 
phoses^ he says, — 
" Foedaque fit volucris, venturi nuncia luctus, 
Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen." 
In his Fasti he openly accuses it of felony : — 
" Nocte volant, puerosque petunt neutrlcis egentes.'* 
B 4 
