174 
OWLS. 
wing of an Owl i's provided with feathers so remark- 
ably soft and pliant, that in striking the air, they 
make no resistance or rushing noise; and the bird 
is, therefore, enabled to steal along silently, in a 
manner very different from many other birds, such 
as wild Ducks, the whistling of whose wings may, 
particularly in a still night, be heard at a great dis- 
tance ; or even as the Plover, whose large soft flap- 
ping wings, at first sight, much resemble an Owl's, hut 
which produce a well-known whirring sort of sound, 
as they wheel round and round in airy circles. 
There is something so peculiar in the solemnity 
and secluded habits of this tribe of birds, that they 
have in all ages been regarded with a degree of 
superstitious feeling. Amongst the North Ame- 
rican Indians, it is customary for the priest or con- 
juror, on their most solemn meetings, to cover his 
head with the snowy skin of the great White 
Northern Owl ; and by the ancients, parts of its 
body were foolishly supposed to possess a sort of 
magical power; for instance, they imagined that 
the heart of a Screech-owl laid upon the breast of a 
sleeping person, would cause him to divulge secrets ; 
or that, if carried into battle, it would inspire 
courage and avert danger. In this country, people 
of former days, always considered it as a bird fore- 
boding mischief, and it was customary to hunt them 
on Christmas-eve ; and even in later times, super- 
stitious persons have thought that the sudden 
appearance of an Owl during the sickness of any 
member of the family, was the sure forerunner of 
death. These conceits, wiser people have long 
since thrown aside, but nevertheless, there is some- 
