yamscontained
graveyaMs,
a popular placefor owlsof anyspecies
to
hunt andsometimes
perchon the
THEENIGMATIC
taller stones.
IT
SEEMS
OWLS
Imaginethe swain,wearyfrom
hisday'slabors,perhaps
tipsyfrom
sparklingcider,ale,or whiskeyat
thepub,walkinghome.Ashewhistlespastthe graveyard,
he hearsa
ARE
alwaysassociated
withreligion,
super-
human voice. If a full moon is shin-
sticion or ritual. In
beginningof time.
ing, he might evenseethe calm
gazeof human-sizedyellow eyes
turned upon him, from atop the
stoneof SquireWesternhimself.
The vocalizationis a questionin
English:
Who's
"Who?
goingWho?
to die?
Who?"
Who next
I remembered that
the semanticist S.I.
will lie here?You?Well then, who?
fact,I recentlyrealized that the owl
hasbeeneveryone's
symbol since the
byJames
Brooks
ofsomethingA betterquestionmightbe,why
Hayakawagot his A symbol
students
to ponder
the statement
that
doweassociate
somanythingswith
or other
owls? What is our attraction to this
in the west the owl
bird? In his landmark work, The
is a symbolof wis-
Naked Ape, Desmond Morris
reportson a surveyof favoriteanimalsconductedaspart of a children'szootelevisionprogram.He
concludes
that animalsfavoredby
to almosteveryone
orient, it is a sym- since
timebegan.
bol of ignorance.
dom, while in the
How can this be?
Virtuallyeverysociety
associates,Caesar,as evidencedin this address humans are those with the most
personifies
or symbolizesowlsas of CicerobyCasco:
humanoidfeatures.Owls qualify
something
or other,andalthough
by havingroundedoutlines,flat
Andyesterday
thebirdof
we are unclearoverexactlywhat
faces,
facialexpressions
andvertical
nightdid sit
owls mean to us, we are undenipostures.
They
have
feathers
rather
Evenat noon-day
uponthe
ably attractedto thesenocturnal
than
fur,
but
they
are
soft
in
marketplace
creatures.
In ancient Greece, Athena was
the goddess
of wisdomandLittle
Owls nestedon the Acropolisin
Athens.Thustheybecame
associatedwith thegoddess,
astheirscientific 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
depictingworship
of 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
Hootingandshrieking.
When theseprodigies
Do soconjointlymeet,let
appearance.
not men say
the same size as our own.
"Thesearetheirreasons;
they
Iroquois Indian legend cites an
impatientowlwhowantedthecre-
are natural;"
For,I believe,theyare
portentuous
things
We are also fascinated with the
owl'sforward-facing
eyes,
whichare
The
ator Raweno to make him fast,
beautiful,
and colorful, but he
In MacBeth,theowlonceagain wouldnot stopwatchingRaweno
calledout, prefiguring
the 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
'Theglow-worm
o'ergrave
and Owl does not hoot like other owls.
"Nowyouwon'tbeableto crane
stone
The white owl does indeed snore
your neck to watch things you
Shalllighttheesteady.
and hiss in a tremendous manner;
shouldn't.
Now youhavebigearsto
The
owl
from
the
steeple
sing,
and these menaces well answer the
hstenwhensomeone
tellsyouwhat
"Welcome,
proud
lady."'
intentionof intimidating;
forI have
not to do. Now youhavebig eyes,
Of course,
anyone
fromScotland knowna wholevillageup in arms
but not sobig that youcanwatch
imagining
the
me,because
you'llbeawakeonlyat would know from such an omen on suchanoccasion,
that
Madge
was
going
to
die.
church
yard
to
be
full
of
goblins
nightandI workbyday."
A happier
endfora haughty
lady andspectres.
Whiteowlsalsooften
Indiantale screamhorriblyastheyfly along;
Tennessee
hada differentexplana- isin thePassamaquoddy
probably
arose
tion. The firstfirewassentby the whichportraysthe GreatHorned fromthisscreaming
Thunders to the bottom of a Owl ashavinglovemedicine
anda the commonpeople'simaginary
of screech
owl,whichthey
hollowsycamore
treeon anisland. magicloveflute.The haughtygirlis species
think attendsthe
Severalanimalswent to get the luredintotheforestbytheenchant- superstitiously
of dyingpersons.
fire, and amongthosewho were ing music,but rejectsthe Great windows
Horned Owl as a suitor. Later she
unsuccessful was the Screech
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
its emphasison natureand roair nearlyburnedhis eyes,which
manticsettings,
darkness,
mystery
areredto thisday.
and
ruins.
The hootingowl (U'guku)and
The model for what became
thehornedowl (Tskili')werenearly with the owl's forwardknownasthe Graveyard
Schoolof
blindedbythesmoke,
andtheashes facing eyes, which
English
romantic
poetry
was
madewhiteringsaroundtheireyes.
are
the
same
size
as
ThomasGray's"ElegyWrittenin a
But if we areattractedby the owl's
CountryChurch-Yard."
humanoidfeatures,
whyarewe also our own.
repelled?
Mountainfolkloretoday
Savethatfromyonderivymantied
tow'r
portraysthe owl asan objectof
dread.
Themopeing
owldoesto the
to resist
following.
Sheiscarried
off
mooncomplain
Muchof Appalachian
folklore, by the Great Horned Owl.
Of such,aswand'ringnearher
shelearnsto acceptthat
likethecolorful
dialect,
goes
straight Eventually
The Cherokee Indians of east
We arefascinated
back to Elizabethan times. The owl
her husband is an owl, because,
secretbow'r,
Molestherancientsolitary
reign.
asan omenof doomgoesbackto "Womenhaveto getusedto their
JohnKeatswasa keenobserver
no matterwhotheyare."
the Romans,andkilling the mes- husbands,
English
litera- of both nature and art, and he used
senger
of doomwasa remedy
then. Priorto Shakespeare,
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:
theowlin realistic,
centurypoem,"The Owl andthe Keatsdepicted
fashion:"St
Nightingale,"is a debatebetween ratherthansymbolic
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 -Restraintwasnot typicallythe
Althoughthegravityof theowlis
All nightlongheheardyour
contrastedwith the gaietyof the hallmark of romantic literature.
screalTi.
nightingale,neitherbird hasany Poetrytendedto be sentimental.
Eventhebestpoets
putsome
mauksymbolic
meaning.
Sir Walter Scott,who penned consistent
ish
work
before
the
public.
William
Naturalist
Gilbert
White
pubthe above,alsowrotea balladsung
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
British
owls
in
1788,
on
the
eve
He wrote of a Miss Jewsbury,
of Midlothian. Here the proud
long
confined to her bed by
of
the
romantic
period.
It
was
not
lady fantasizesgoing to church
sickness,
who derived pleasure
just
poets
who
stalked
the
gravefor her wedding, but she is
from
an
owl
in an uncustomary
answered:
yardsat nightthen.He wasoneof
manner:
thefirstto pointoutthattheBarn
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-cooksfor-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
owl for her
•ngto kdl it, because
•t •ssa•dto be some cultures •n India. Of course,
familiarof theevilspirit.The Bantu eatingthe eyeballs
is alsobelieved
will not touch it because of its asso- to give one the power to see in
Cancheatthetime;sending
her
fancyout
ciation with sorcerers.
To iviedcastles
andto moonlight As the Forum of Rome had to be
skies,
Thoughhecanneitherstira
plume,norshout;
Nor veil, with restless
film, his
staringeyes.
Wordsworth
little knew at the
time that he hadpennedthe very
paragonof romanticexcess.The
StuffedOwl-AnAnthology
ofBad
lOrse,
wascollected
in 1930by D.B.
WyndhamLewisandCharlesLee.
The "Proem"
byLeepaysappropriatehomage
to Wordsworths
contributions
to
the
literature
of
overstatement in a world gone
trivial:
the dark.
The other side of the coin of
purified becausean owl perched Athenais to feedthe owlyourself.
there, presaging the death of If one does this in India while
AugustusCaesar,soit is with the naked, one can acquiremagical
Bechuanas,
whoimmediatelysend powers.
for the doctorwith hispurification Arabs feel that a murdered man
ritualif anowlperches
on a house. appearsin the form of an owl, and
Accordingto the Talmud,it is is cryingout for expiation.Since
unlucky to dream of an owl. In expiation
bybloodisanunderstood
Walesan owl'shoot signifiesthe dutyin Arabcultures,the appearlossof virginitysomewhere
at that anceof an owl in Tehrantriggers
moment.
much different feelingsthan in
Wessex.
The Ojibwa deadhad to pass
To make senseof any of this
overthe Owl Bridgeto getto the
melange
of folkloreandsuperstition
The
;s;.
we must first understand
that the
protectthebuildingfromfire.The
Ainussaythattheowlcanbewitch
peoplebyitshootandmustnotbe
owlisprimarilyassociated
withthe
night.Whatcouldbemoremysteriomen of doomgoes
ousandconfusing?
Perhaps
no oneunderstood
this
back to the Romans,
betterthanthePolish-born
English
and killing the
novelistJosephConrad.Crisesin
Conradnovelsoccurduringtimes
messengerof doom
of darkness,
fog,or theconfusion
of
was a remedythen.
storm.Malaycanoes
passin thefog,
a bomberblowshimself up in a
otherside.Yorubasorcerers
suppos- Londonfog,LordJimjumpsto his
edlysendtheowloutto kill people, doom in the dark and lands in a life
but the Pawnees
regardthe bird as boat, Kurtz the trader blunders
thechiefof nightwhogivesaidand abouthisivoryoutpost
in TheHeart
protection.
ofDarkness.
It is no surprisethat
In manyculturesowlsarenailed Nostromo
openswith an epigraph
to trees or barn doors to avert the ill
fromShakespeare:
luckthat theybring.But in other
•mitated.
cultures, if the owl flies into a dove-
With fit solemnity
let
Wordsworth tell
How Simon's anklesswell,
and swell,and swell,
And how, from Anna's
couchwhenfriendsdepart,
An owl,preserv'd
by
taxidermicart,
Can cheatthe tedioustime, and
heal the conscious smart.
What other folklore has man
attached to the owl? In Lithuania
theowlbringsharmandfire,yetin
China homes have an owl corner to
All of us know birders
who imitate owls. Are they
cot it bringsgoodluck.If itsheart
bewitched?
andrightfootarelaidon a sleeping
In Samoathevillage,Godissaid person,hewill confessall that he
sofoula sky
dears not
without a storm
Inabilityto see,confusion,misunderstanding-- theseare the
sayit is a companion
of thewitch,
Still otherssaythat its cry can productsof the night. Sois love,
It isthetime
and in Thessaly,womenuseowl freea personfromfeveror that its andlikewisetreachery.
of
swains
and
sorcerers,
witchesand
feathers
asaningredientof magic. feathersbring peacefulslumber.
wombats.
No
other
warm
blooded
TheNavajoIndians
usetheScreech-Neara pregnant
womanamongthe
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
the owl. ß
saved
thelifeof Ghengis
Khan,and the sex of an unborn child.
demonstrate
reverence
by wearing
Everythreatened
or endangered
•ts feathers.
animalisregarded
asanaphrodisiac
to be incarnate in the owl. The Yao
The Macusis of British Guiana
has done.
somewhere in the Orient, and eat-
respect
theowlevenmorebyrefus- ing owl fleshis saidto stimulate
Volume 45, Number 3 ß:•1