An owl sitting on a housetop and hooting in the evening was taken as a sure sign of a death in the family. Forster noted that owls hooted a great deal in early March, yet ordinary people still counted every hoot as a bad omen. He quoted an old couplet on screech owls shrieking on the chimney tops.
The screech owl on the chimney top
8 March · England
Lore and belief
if an Owl happens to sit on a house top, and hoot of an evening, some death in the family is immediately expected.
From Forster's Perennial Calendar, p. 101. Read the original
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