THE GREAT HORNED OWL. 41 
kind about a farm-house, was captured and kept for several 
days, and at length disappeared, no one knew whither. 
Almost every day after this, hens and chickens also dis- 
appeared, one by one, in an unaccountable manner, till in 
eight or ten days very few were left remaining. The fox, 
the minx, and weasel, were alternately the reputed authors 
of this mischief, until one morning, the olcMfedy herself, 
rising before day to bake, in passing towards the oven, 
surprised her late prisoner, the Owl, regaling himself on 
the body of a newly killed 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 despatched him. In this snug retreat were 
found the greater part of the feathers, and many large frag- 
ments, 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 sequestered 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 pic- 
ture. 
■ Ignorance and superstition, in all ages, and in all countries, 
3 
