yamscontained graveyaMs,a popu-

THEENIGMATIC lar placefor owlsof anyspecies

hunt andsometimes
taller stones.
to
perchon the

Imaginethe swain,wearyfrom
hisday'slabors,perhapstipsyfrom
sparklingcider,ale,or whiskeyat
IT SEEMS OWLS ARE
thepub,walkinghome.Ashewhis-
alwaysassociated tlespastthe graveyard,he hearsa
withreligion,
super- human voice. If a full moon is shin-
sticion or ritual. In ing, he might evenseethe calm
fact,I recentlyreal- gazeof human-sizedyellow eyes
ized that the owl turned upon him, from atop the
hasbeeneveryone's stoneof SquireWesternhimself.
symbol since the The vocalizationis a questionin
byJames
beginningof time.
I remembered that
Brooks English:
Who's "Who?
goingWho?
to die?
Who?"
Who next

the semanticist S.I. will lie here?You?Well then, who?

Hayakawagot his A symbol
ofsomethingA betterquestionmightbe,why
students
to ponder
the statement that
or other
in the west the owl
is a symbolof wis-
dom, while in the
to almosteveryone
orient, it is a sym- sincetimebegan.
bol of ignorance.
How can this be?
Virtuallyeverysocietyassociates,Caesar,as evidencedin this address humans are those with the most
personifiesor symbolizesowlsas of CicerobyCasco:
something or other,andalthough
we are unclearoverexactlywhat
owls mean to us, we are undeni-
ably attractedto thesenocturnal
creatures.
In ancient Greece, Athena was
the goddessof wisdomandLittle
Owls nestedon the Acropolisin
Athens.Thustheybecame associat-
edwith thegoddess,astheirscien-
tific name, Athene noctua,indicates.
Greekcoinage
of thetimedisplayed
the head of Athena on one side and
the likeness of the owl on the other.
In Greekpottery,owlswereoften
shownwith breasts
on vases
depict-
ingworshipof Athena.
It was in Roman times that the
owl became dreaded as an omen of
death. Plutarch, however, remarked
thattheappearance
of anowlat the
Forum before Caesar's assasination
was "not perhapsworth taking
noticeof in sogreata caseasthis."
Shakespeare disagreedin Julius
American Birds, Fall 1991
doweassociate
somanythingswith
owls? What is our attraction to this
bird? In his landmark work, The
Naked Ape, Desmond Morris
reportson a surveyof favoriteani-
malsconductedaspart of a chil-
dren'szootelevisionprogram.He
concludesthat animalsfavoredby
humanoidfeatures.Owls qualify
Andyesterday thebirdof by havingroundedoutlines,flat
nightdid sit faces,
facialexpressions
andvertical
Evenat noon-day uponthe postures.They havefeathersrather
marketplace than fur, but they are soft in
Hootingandshrieking. appearance.
When theseprodigies We are also fascinated with the
Do soconjointlymeet,let owl'sforward-facing
eyes,
whichare
not men say the same size as our own. The
"Thesearetheirreasons;
they Iroquois Indian legend cites an
are natural;"
impatientowlwhowantedthecre-
For,I believe,theyare ator Raweno to make him fast,
portentuous things beautiful, and colorful, but he
In MacBeth,theowlonceagain wouldnot stopwatchingRaweno
calledout, prefiguringthe murder at work.
of Duncan. Here Shakespeare "Nobody can forbid me to
fittinglytermstheowl,"theobscure watch,"saidtheowl."Nobodycan
bird (who) clamour'd the live- order me to closemy eyes.I like
longnight." watching you, and watch you
Englandwasperhapsthe ripest I will."
placepossiblefor owlsto raiseup The creatorgrabbedtheowland
broodsof doomsayers. Virtually stuffeditsheaddeepinto itsbody,
everycastleruin,eachabbey,clois- shaking it until its eyes grew
ter or country churchyardhad big with fright, and pulled at its
appropriate nestingsites,especially earsuntil theystuckout bothsides
for Barn Owls. Country church- of its head.
No•hern Saw-whetOwl (Aegolius
acadius)amongappleblossoms.
This
diminuitivewoodlandwaif perfectly
depictsthe fo[ward-facingeyesand
roundface of nearlyall speciesof owls.
Photographby Nan and SandyCarey.

Volume 45, Number

 "Nowyouwon'tbeableto crane 'Theglow-worm o'ergrave and Owl does not hoot like other owls.
your neck to watch things you stone The white owl does indeed snore
shouldn't.
Now youhavebigearsto Shalllighttheesteady. and hiss in a tremendous manner;
hstenwhensomeone tellsyouwhat The owlfrom thesteeplesing, and these menaces well answer the
not to do. Now youhavebig eyes, "Welcome, proud lady."' intentionof intimidating; forI have
but not sobig that youcanwatch Of course, anyone fromScotland knowna wholevillageup in arms
me,because you'llbeawakeonlyat would know from such an omen on suchanoccasion, imagining the
nightandI workbyday." thatMadge was going to die. church yard to be full of goblins
The Cherokee Indians of east A happierendfora haughty lady andspectres. Whiteowlsalsooften
Tennessee hada differentexplana- isin thePassamaquoddy Indiantale screamhorriblyastheyfly along;
tion. The firstfirewassentby the whichportraysthe GreatHorned fromthisscreaming probably arose
Thunders to the bottom of a Owl ashavinglovemedicine anda the commonpeople'simaginary
hollowsycamore treeon anisland. magicloveflute.The haughtygirlis species of screech owl,whichthey
Severalanimalswent to get the luredintotheforestbytheenchant- superstitiously think attendsthe
fire, and amongthosewho were ing music,but rejectsthe Great windows of dyingpersons.
unsuccessful was the Screech Horned Owl as a suitor. Later she Owls thus becamea big part
Owl (Wa'huhu'). He looked into hears themusicagainandisunable of the romanticpoetryscenethat
the hollow tree and a blast of hot heldswayfor the nextcenturywith
air nearlyburnedhis eyes,which its emphasison natureand ro-
areredto thisday.
The hootingowl (U'guku)and
We arefascinated manticsettings,
and ruins.
darkness, mystery

thehornedowl (Tskili')werenearly with the owl's forward- The model for what became
blindedbythesmoke, andtheashes facing eyes, which knownasthe Graveyard Schoolof
madewhiteringsaroundtheireyes. English romantic poetry was
But if we areattractedby the owl's are the same size as ThomasGray's"ElegyWrittenin a
humanoidfeatures, whyarewe also our own. CountryChurch-Yard."
repelled?Mountainfolkloretoday Savethatfromyonderivy-
portraysthe owl asan objectof mantied tow'r
dread. to resist
following.Sheiscarried off Themopeing owldoesto the
Muchof Appalachian folklore, by the Great Horned Owl. mooncomplain
likethecolorful dialect,
goesstraight Eventuallyshelearnsto acceptthat Of such,aswand'ringnearher
back to Elizabethan times. The owl her husband is an owl, because, secretbow'r,
Molestherancientsolitary reign.
asan omenof doomgoesbackto "Womenhaveto getusedto their
the Romans,andkilling the mes- husbands,no matterwhotheyare." JohnKeatswasa keenobserver
sengerof doomwasa remedy then. Priorto Shakespeare, litera- of both nature and art, and he used
English
In Scotland it is even considered turehadnot determineda symbolic the owl to set the scene in "The Eve
bad luck to seean owl in the day- association for the owl. The 13th ofSt.Agnes." With typical
restraint,
time: centurypoem,"The Owl andthe Keatsdepicted theowlin realistic,
Nightingale,"is a debatebetween ratherthansymbolic fashion:"St
Birdsof omen dark and foul,
thetwobirdsovera rangeof sub- AgnesEve-- Ah, bitter chill it
Night-crow, raven,bat,andowl, jects,includingwisdombasedon was!/The owl, for all his feathers,
Leave the sick man to his
experience ratherthanschooling. was a-cold."
dream --
Althoughthegravityof theowlis Restraintwasnot typicallythe
All nightlongheheardyour contrastedwith the gaietyof the hallmark of romantic literature.
screalTi.
nightingale,neitherbird hasany Poetrytendedto be sentimental.
Sir Walter Scott,who penned consistent symbolic meaning. Eventhebestpoets putsome mauk-
the above,alsowrotea balladsung Naturalist Gilbert White pub- ish work beforethepublic.
William
by the crazed Madge Wildfire lished what we would consider to Wordsworthimmediatelycomesto
mind.
as she lay dying in The Heart be careful behavioral observations
of Midlothian. Here the proud of British owls in 1788, on the eve He wrote of a Miss Jewsbury,
lady fantasizesgoing to church of the romantic period.It was not long confined to her bed by
for her wedding, but she is just poets who stalked the grave- sickness, who derived pleasure
answered: yardsat nightthen.He wasoneof from an owl in an uncustomary
thefirstto pointoutthattheBarn manner:

American Birds, Fall 1991

The EasternScreech-Owl(Otus asio),
thoughcommonlyheardthroughout
the easternUnitedStates, is often
quite difficultto see.
Photographby StephenKirkpatrick.
Widespreadin forestsand wooded
swampsacrossmuch of North America,
the "who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-
for-you-all"voiceof the BarredOwl
(Strix varia) is familiar to many birders
and fishermanalike. Photograph
by •m Daniel.
Takingits scientificnamefrom the
Greek goddessof wisdom,the Little
Owl (Athenenoctua) is widespreadfrom
southernGreat Britain, Europe,and
northern Africa across central Asia to
China.Photographby I. Mellinger/VIREO.
The eagle owlsare the ultimate
nocturnalavian predatorsworld-wide-in
fact, they are ounce-for-ounce
among
the most powerfulbirdsin nature.The
onlyrepresentativeof the groupin
the New World is the Great Horned Owl
(Bubovirginianus).Photographby Brent
R. PaulVAmericanWest Photography.
Volume 45, Number 3 ß385
a•. Amer,can B,rds, Fall 1991
 The presence
evenof a stuffed •ngto kdl it, because •t •ssa•dto be some cultures •n India. Of course,
owl for her
familiarof theevilspirit.The Bantu eatingthe eyeballs is alsobelieved
Cancheatthetime;sendingher will not touch it because of its asso- to give one the power to see in
fancyout ciation with sorcerers. the dark.
To iviedcastles
andto moonlight As the Forum of Rome had to be The other side of the coin of
skies,
purified becausean owl perched Athenais to feedthe owlyourself.
Thoughhecanneitherstira
plume,norshout; there, presaging the death of If one does this in India while
Nor veil, with restless
film, his AugustusCaesar,soit is with the naked, one can acquiremagical
staringeyes. Bechuanas, whoimmediatelysend powers.
for the doctorwith hispurification Arabs feel that a murdered man
Wordsworth little knew at the
ritualif anowlperches on a house. appearsin the form of an owl, and
time that he hadpennedthe very Accordingto the Talmud,it is is cryingout for expiation.Since
paragonof romanticexcess.The unlucky to dream of an owl. In expiation bybloodisanunderstood
StuffedOwl-AnAnthology ofBad Walesan owl'shoot signifiesthe dutyin Arabcultures,the appear-
lOrse,
wascollectedin 1930by D.B. lossof virginitysomewhere at that anceof an owl in Tehrantriggers
WyndhamLewisandCharlesLee. moment. much different feelingsthan in
The "Proem" byLeepaysappropri- The Ojibwa deadhad to pass Wessex.
atehomage to Wordsworthscontri- overthe Owl Bridgeto getto the To make senseof any of this
butions to the literature of
melange of folkloreandsuperstition
overstatement in a world gone we must first understand that the
trivial: The ;s;. owlisprimarilyassociated withthe
With fit solemnity
let night.Whatcouldbemoremysteri-
Wordsworth tell
omen of doomgoes ousandconfusing?
How Simon's anklesswell, back to the Romans, Perhapsno oneunderstood this
and swell,and swell, betterthanthePolish-born English
And how, from Anna's and killing the novelistJosephConrad.Crisesin
couchwhenfriendsdepart, messengerof doom Conradnovelsoccurduringtimes
An owl,preserv'd
by of darkness,
fog,or theconfusion of
taxidermicart, was a remedythen. storm.Malaycanoes passin thefog,
Can cheatthe tedioustime, and
heal the conscious smart.
a bomberblowshimself up in a
otherside.Yorubasorcerers suppos- Londonfog,LordJimjumpsto his
What other folklore has man edlysendtheowloutto kill people, doom in the dark and lands in a life
attached to the owl? In Lithuania but the Pawnees regardthe bird as boat, Kurtz the trader blunders
theowlbringsharmandfire,yetin thechiefof nightwhogivesaidand abouthisivoryoutpost in TheHeart
China homes have an owl corner to protection. ofDarkness. It is no surprisethat
protectthebuildingfromfire.The In manyculturesowlsarenailed Nostromo openswith an epigraph
Ainussaythattheowlcanbewitch to trees or barn doors to avert the ill fromShakespeare:
peoplebyitshootandmustnotbe luckthat theybring.But in other
•mitated. All of us know birders cultures, if the owl flies into a dove-
sofoula sky
dears not
who imitate owls. Are they cot it bringsgoodluck.If itsheart without a storm
bewitched? andrightfootarelaidon a sleeping
In Samoathevillage,Godissaid person,hewill confessall that he Inabilityto see,confusion,mis-
to be incarnate in the owl. The Yao has done. understanding-- theseare the
sayit is a companion of thewitch, Still otherssaythat its cry can productsof the night. Sois love,
and in Thessaly,womenuseowl freea personfromfeveror that its andlikewisetreachery. It isthetime
feathers asaningredientof magic. feathersbring peacefulslumber. of swains and sorcerers,
witchesand
TheNavajoIndians usetheScreech-Neara pregnant womanamongthe wombats. No other warm blooded
Owl asa bugaboo to frightenchil- Wends,the owl presages an easy creaturesoperfectlyfits into this
dren. The Kalmukssaythe owl delivery.In Dalmatiait canforecast confusingnight-time niche as
saved thelifeof Ghengis Khan,and the sex of an unborn child. the owl. ß
demonstrate reverence by wearing Everythreatened or endangered
•ts feathers. animalisregarded asanaphrodisiac
The Macusis of British Guiana somewhere in the Orient, and eat-
respect
theowlevenmorebyrefus- ing owl fleshis saidto stimulate
Volume 45, Number 3 ß:•1