102 
STRIX VIRGINIANA. 
hen ! The thief instantly made for his hole, under 
house, from whence the enraged matron soon dislod^^ 
him, with the brush handle, and without mercy 
patched him. In this snug retreat, were found 
greater part of the feathers, and many large fragnae'^ 
of her whole family of chickens. , 
There is something in the character of the on'l , 
recluse, solitary, and mysterious, something so discords ^ 
in the tones of its voice, heard only amid the 
and gloom of night, and in the most lonely and 
tered situations, as to have strongly impressed ' ^ 
minds of mankind in general with sensations of 
and abhorrence of the whole tribe. The poets h®'.j. 
indulged freely in this general prejudice; and in tb , 
descriptions and delineations of midnight storms, ‘ j 
gloomy scenes of nature, the owl is generally introduc 
to heighten the horror of the picture. Ignorance 
superstition, in all ages, and in all countries, listen 
the voice of the owl, and even contemplate its pl'y^ljy 
nomy, with feelings of disgust, and a kind of 
awe. The priests, or conjurers, among some of ® | 
Indian nations, have taken advantage of the reveren' i 
horror for this bird, and have adopted the t/reat i 
owl, the subject of the present account, as the synJ"^ 
or emblem of their office. “ Among the Creeks,” 
Mr Bartram, in his Travels, p. 504, “ the junior pr'‘'*'^e 
or students, constantly' wear a white mantle, and 
a great on l-skin cased and stuffed very ingeniously; b 
well executed as almost to a]»pear like the living jJ 
having large sparkling glass beads, or buttons, 
the head for eyes. This insignia of wisdom and d< 
nation they w'ear sometimes as a crest on the 
the head ; at other times the image sits on the 
or is borne on the hand. These bachelors are “y, 
distinguished from the other pco])Ie by their taciturn* 
grave and solemn countenance, dignified step, and si 
ing to themselves songs or hymns in a low, s" 
voice, as they stroll about the town.” . ..^ 
Nothing is a more effectual cure for supersfi^ ^ 
than a knowledge of the general laws and product* 
