BIRDS OF PREY AND OWLS 
8 
!) 
hunt down and kill birds larger than themselves. 
Owls. 
Few birds have been more misrepresented in 
literature than the Owls. For centuries they have 
been depicted as birds of ill omen, and accused of 
all kinds of diabolical practices. Shakespeare, for 
example, repeatedly makes the owl do duty for 
some evil sign, or fulfil some dire purpose. Thus 
in Macbeth, Act IF, Scene ii.. 
It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman, 
Which gives the stern’st good-night. 
And later on, in Act IV., it is an owl’s wing which 
he makes the witches add to their caldron of noi- 
some things, when brewing their deadly potion. 
In Spain the scops and tawny owls are believed to 
be devil’s birds, and are accused of drinking the 
oil from the lamps suspended before the shrines 
of saints. The gamekeeper nails their bodies up 
on the barn door as offenders of the worst type, 
whilst the Malagasy believe owls to be the embodi- 
ments of evil spirits. 
hy C. N, Mavrtyent\ \_Smyrna 
EAGLE-OWL 
One of the largest oivh 
Phots hj P. Dandoj F,Z.S,'] \_Regent's Park 
TAWNY OWL 
One of the commonest British oivls 
It is therefore a relief to find this unwarrantable 
prejudice is not absolutely universal, since amongst 
some people, at least, the owl has found some favour. 
The best-known instance of this is the case of the 
Greeks, who made the owl the symbol of wisdom, and 
chose as an emblem, singularly enough, the species 
known as the Little Owl, a bird which is notorious for 
its ludicrous behaviour, so much so that it has earned 
for itself the reputation of being the veritable buffoon 
of birds. Its grotesque and ridiculous antics are 
utilised by Continental bird-catchers, who use it as a 
lure to attract small birds, tethering it for this pur- 
pose near nets, snares, or twigs smeared with bird-lime. 
Amongst other birds, strangely enough, the owl 
appears to be as much disliked as the fiercer and more 
dangerous members of the Hawk Tribe, and in con- 
sequence, should one venture abroad during the day 
or be discovered in its retreat, the alarm is given, and 
every small bird within call is summoned to take part 
in a general mobbing. 
Although proverbially unpalatable, the Little Owl 
