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Birds-Owl: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
On the meadow, Where our bed arranged was,— There now you may find e'en
In the shadow Broken flowers and crushed grass.— Near the woods, down in the vale,
Tandaradi! Sweetly sang the nightingale.— WALTER VON DER VOGELWEIDE Trans. in The Minnesinger of
Germany. Under the Linden. Owl. The large white owl that with eye is blind, That hath sate for years in the old tree hollow. Is carried away in a gust of wind.— E. B. BROWNING — Isobel's Child. St. 19.
The Roman senate, when within The city walls an owl was seen, Did cause their clergy, with lustrations * * * * * * The round-fac'd prodigy t' avert, From doing town or country hurt.— BUTLER — Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto III. L. 709.
In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower, The spectral Owl doth dwell; Dull, hated, despised, in the sunshine hour, But at dusk-he's abroad and well! Not a bird of the forest e'er mates with him- All mock him outright, by day: But at night, when the woods grow still and dim, The boldest will shrink away! O, when the night falls, and roosts the fowl, Then, then, is the reign of the Horned Owl!— BARRY CORNWALL — The Owl.
The startled bats flew out-bird after bird- The screech owl overhead began to flutter, And seem'd to mock the cry that she had heard Some dying victim utter. HOOD The Haunted House. Pt. II. St. 11. St. Agnes' Eve-Ah, bitter chill it was! The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold.— KEATS — The Eve of St. Agnes.
The screech-owl, with ill-boding cry, Portends strange things, old women say; Stops every fool that passes by, And frights the school-boy from his play.— LADY MONTAGU — The Politicians. St. 4.
It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bell man, Which gives the stern'st good night.— Shakespeare — Macbeth. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 3.
Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note.— Shakespeare — Love's Labour's Lost. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 928.
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots and wonders At our quaint spirits.— Shakespeare — Midsummer Night's Dream. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 6.
O you virtuous owle, The wise Minerva's only fowle. C.— SIR PHILIP SIDNEY- — A Remedy for Love. L. 77.
When cats run home and light is come, And dew is cold upon the ground, And the far-off stream is dumb, And the whirring sail goes round, And the whirring sail goes round; Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits.— TENNYSON — Song. The Owl.
Then lady Cynthia, mistress of the shade, Goes, with the fashionable owls, to bed.— YOUNG — Love of Fame. Satire V. L. 209.
Bird of Paradise. Those golden birds that, in the spice-time, drop About the gardens, drunk with that sweet food Whose scent hath lur'd them o'er the summer flood; And those that under Araby's soft sun Build their high nests of budding cinnamon.— MOORE — Lalla Rookh. The Veiled
Prophet of Khorassan. Partridge. Ah, nut-brown partridges! Ah, brilliant pheasants! And ah, ye poachers!-'Tis no sport for peasants.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto XIII. St. 75.
Or have you mark'd a partridge quake, Viewing the towering falcon nigh? She cuddles low behind the brake: Nor would she stay; nor dares she fly.— PRIOR — The Dove. St. 14.
Who finds the partridge in the puttock's nest, But may imagine how the bird was dead, Although the kite soar with unbloodied beak?— Shakespeare — Henry VI. Pt. II. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 191.