m 
VEBTEBRATA. 
A clever writer in "Household Words" humorously traces this common prejudice in various 
languages as follows : 
"Our polite French ally makes up his mouth and says Sibou, with a strong and spiteful accent- 
uation of the last syllable, which is the obnoxious root of the name in nearly all languages ; or 
he speaks through his nose, as none but a Frenchman can speak, and stigmatizes the poor thing 
as a Chat-Huant or hooting-cat, a designation at once illogical and illiberal. The soft-voiced 
Italian chokes with the malicious epithet Gufo ; the grave Spaniard, taking a cigarito from his 
lips, sonorously exclaims Buho ; the Lower Austrian imitates the Castilian as well as he can, 
and cries Buhu; while the German, with wondering eyes and unmeaning face, delivers himself 
of Uule — which he pronounces very like oily — as if he had hit upon something superlatively 
characteristic and transcendental. Vulgarity marks the treatment which the owl experiences in 
England. Madge-hoiolet is, perhaps, the least ungentlemanlike of the names we give ; but a num- 
ber of offensive adjectives are freely applied to designate a bird quite as estimable as many that 
enjoy a much better character. In the Highlands of Scotland the owl is served out, so to speak, 
in barbarous Celtic, as a Gorrasgreachag, or a Cailleach-oidhche, words which I defy the least 
harmonious bird of night itself to pronounce ; and the Welsh leave you to choose between 
Dyllumi Wen and Aderyn-y-Corph, both of which, you may be sure, mean something disagree- 
able. The Eed Indians of North America, who know no better, call their owl Cohadecootch and 
Wapohoo, and the native Australians, Avho ought to be the last people to sneer at others, deri- 
sively say Buck-huch when they speak of the Bird of Wisdom. The Japanese have a canine no- 
tion of our friend — ^perhaps they believe them to be feathered dogs — and whisper Howo-waiwo 
when he sails across their path. The Arabs, with their deep, gutteral voices, Khufj ; but 
what word the Persians use I decline to mention. This enumeration might be greatly extended. 
Enough, probably, has been instanced to show that the owl is not in the slightest degree indebted 
to mankind for the ordinary politeness that is due to every stranger." 
Such are the popular impressions which have been entertained for ages in respect to the owl — 
the offspring of ignorance and that tendency of mankind to fill every space which has not been 
made familiar by experience, with spirits of darkness. It is the mission of science to dissipate 
these foul inventions ; it is especially the purpose of such a humble work as this to remove the 
injurious and mischievous fictions which ignorance, the fruitful mother of prejudice and supersti- 
tion, has woven around many of the objects which God has created and placed in communication, 
more or less intimate, with mankind. The owl, truly and properly viewed, is calculated to excite 
not merely curiosity, but gratified wonder : it is so constituted and so adapted to the purposes 
of its creation as to be the theme of unbounded admiration among naturalists ; it is also, in fact, 
so far from being an enemy of man, that it is in reality one of his best friends; for, living upon 
vermin that devour our substance, it is the protector of our granaries and larders. Instead of 
being a gloomy and loathsome monster, it is in fact a cheerful bird, singing, dancing, and rollick- 
ing in its daylight of darkness ; it is a good liver, and on proper occasions, a merry-maker, rois- 
terer, and Robin Goodfellow — nay, even a buffoon, as our pages hereafter will show. In its moral 
qualities it is most exemplary. It not only enjoys all the pleasures of making love, of courtship 
and flirtation, of nest-building, hatching, and raising the young, of hushing the little dears to 
slumber by gossip and song — which we, who have not an ear for such music, call hooting and 
screeching — but its parental devotion, in prosperity and adversity, is really worthy of admiration. 
Connubial faith and felicity are marked features in the owl's domestic life ; its providence is pro- 
verbial. It is profoundly weather-wise, and by its whoopings, to those who are versed in these 
things, atmounces the coming storm. These facts should not be reflected upon in vain. A bird 
that for six thousand years has been held to be accursed, in the light of modern science is proved 
to be a good and genial and worthy member of God's creation. Let us be careful how we 
venture to affirm that any thing God has made, is accursed ! 
To understand the owl, we must regard him from his own point of view. He is made for the 
night, as we are for the day. Daylight is darkness to him ; sunset is his sunrise. During the 
day he is blind, and nothing can exceed the awkwardness and stupidity of his appearance at such 
a time. But when evening approaches, his whole being is transformed. He then glides forth 
