OWLS 
tance ; the smaller birds flew away, but ‘Nero’ treated both 
alike with sovereign contempt. He would return of his own 
accord to the roosting-place in the piazza, and when put out 
and confined for some days, rejected all food, and pined until 
restored to his perch. With me he was as tame as any canary, 
and, after an absence of two months, recognized my voice when 
I went to his cage at Oatlands (Devon), apiDearing much pleased 
by my taking him out for a walk on the grass. Many natives 
from the interior told me they had not seen such a bird before, 
but they considered him vnlucky. I really think ‘Nero’ is 
nearly sans any relations, and certainly devoid of all friends in 
Western Africa. 
Sept. 13, 1859. L. S. O’Connor, St. Mark’s House, Jersey.” 
Now, all the laughing at the superstition of the poor 
negro will not prove that the white population of our own 
country are quite free from the belief in, and dread of, the 
supernatural, and it is a great mistake to suppose that 
education and the so-called high state of civilization is 
a preventive of a tendency towards superstition. The 
educated can conceal, from fear of shame, their thoughts 
and impulses, but the uneducated and poorer classes speak 
openly and unguardedly and without the fear of publicity; 
thus the miserable fortune-teller is frequently exposed and 
brought to justice. How many persons of rank and fortune 
are daily being deluded by spirit-rappers, and other 
swindlers of this class, yet how few have the courage to 
come forward to admit their own folly by exposing the 
deception of which they have been dupes ! 
But, to return to the story of Pel’s owl, and in order to 
illustrate the above facts, it is only necessary to remark 
that a living specimen of this species was brought to 
Europe ; its demoniacal character came with it, and, 
strange to say, the most distressing and direst train of 
misfortunes befell its owner, and he was reluctantly com- 
pelled to part with the bird. By many who knew the 
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