102 
STRIX VIRGINIANA. 
hen ! The thief instantly made for his hole, under the 
house, from whence the enraged matron soon dislodged 
him, with the brush handle, and without mercy des- 
- patched him. In this snug retreat, were found the 
greater part of the feathers, and many large fragments 
of her whole family of chickens. 
There is something in the character of the owl so 
recluse, solitary, and mysterious, something so discordant 
in the tones of its voice, heard only amid the silence 
and gloom of night, and in the most lonely and seques- 
tered situations, as to have strongly impressed the 
minds of mankind in general with sensations of awe 
and abhorrence of the whole tribe. The poets have 
indulged freely in this general prejudice ; and in their 
descriptions and delineations of midnight storms, and 
gloomy scenes of nature, the owl is generally introduced 
to heighten the horror of the picture. Ignorance and 
superstition, in all ages, and in all countries, listen to 
the voice of the owl, and even contemplate its physiog- 
nomy, with feelings of disgust, and a kind of fearful 
awe. The priests, or conjurers, among some of our 
Indian nations, have taken advantage of the reverential 
horror for this bird, and have adopted the great horned, 
owl , the subject of the present account, as the symbol 
or emblem of their office. “ Among the Creeks,” says 
Mr Bartram, in his Travels , p. 504, “ the junior priests, 
or students, constantly wear a white mantle, and have 
a great owl-skin cased and stuffed very ingeniously, so 
well executed as almost to appear like the living bird, 
having large sparkling glass beads, or buttons, fixed in 
the head for eyes. This insignia of wisdom and divi- 
nation they wear sometimes as a crest on the top of 
the head ; at other times the image sits on the arm, 
or is borne on the hand. These bachelors are also 
distinguished from the other people by their taciturnity, 
grave and solemn countenance, dignified step, and sing- 
ing to themselves songs or hymns in a low, sweet 
voice, as they stroll about the town.” 
Nothing is a more effectual cure for superstition 
than a knowledge of the general laws and productions 
