And later on—
“The obscure bird clamour’d the live-long night.”
Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 2.
The awe, no doubt, with which this bird is regarded by the superstitious, may be attributed in some measure to the fact of its flying by night.
“Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,
········
The time when screech-owls cry and ban-dogs howl.”
Henry VI. Part II. Act i. Sc. 4.
And yet, strange to say, the appearance of an owl by day is by some considered equally ominous:—
“The owl by day,