Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/398

 342 owls in all other parts of the world, the Madagascar species are really public benefactors, by keeping down the large numbers of rats and mice; but their nocturnal habits, their large staring eyes, the "uncanny" ear-like feathers of some, and especially their unearthly screech, have all combined to make them objects of dread. These and other popular notions, as well as observation as to the habits of the bird, are shown in the following proverbs: "Don't act like an owl: sulky in another person's house"; "A wild-cat laughing at an owl: the one that creeps ridicules the one that flies." (Wild-cats—Kàry—are as much objects of dislike as owls, and are frequently classed with them by the Malagasy.) And again: " Bent down in grief and dejection, although nothing has befallen you, like an owl"; "It is the tufted umber (Scopus umbretta) that finishes a nest, but it is the owl who swells out and gives itself airs"; "An owl appearing in the daytime, so all who see it swoop down upon it."

The last-mentioned proverb is illustrated by the following Malagasy fable: —