text:  "Of all the brave birds that e'er I did see The owl is the fairest in her degree " quoth an old ditty; and we must ourselves confess to a peculiar _penchant_ for an "owl in an ivy bush " partly from personal sympathy for its shortsightedness and not less for the aspect of solemn wisdom which gained for it of yore a place on the crest of Minerva's helmet and has made it in the regions of the East the counsellor of kings and princes