The nature of most birds seems so full of vitality and gladness
that the nocturnal habits of certain species make a more
melancholy impression than is their due. The nightingale’s song
is essentially strong and spirited; but the bird has acquired
a lasting reputation for dolorousness, partly owing to the
influence of darkness and solitude on the mind of the midnight
listener, but largely because of its apparent preference for
night over day. Half the impression of melancholy vanishes from
the nightingale’s nocturnal song, once the hearer has learned
to recognize the same music in the confusing midday chorus. The
owl’s reputation, which is sinister rather than merely mournful,
is equally little deserved. We do not set down the jackdaw as a
maleficent fowl for haunting church-yards and ruins, or the jay
for its harshness of voice; but both these qualities have been
enough to excite an historic prejudice against owls. Yet, if
once the associations of old superstitions are dispelled, owls
are recognized as among the most companionable of birds, and
their cries in the winter nights as some of the most heartening
sounds in nature.--London _Times_.
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