History & local legend
William J. Buck preserved a story he heard as a boy about a white bird visiting a sickroom window. A woman was keeping watch over an elderly patient on a winter night, reading from the family Bible, when tapping drew her attention to the glass.
A bird about the size of a pigeon stood outside, nodding and striking the window several times. The nurse waited until it flew away before waking the household. In her family’s tradition, such a visit foretold a peaceful death. The patient died within two hours.
Years later, Buck saw a white owl that had been found in a neighbor’s hayloft and consulted Alexander Wilson’s bird book. It suggested a possible identity for the visitor remembered in the nurse’s story.
Sources
- William J. Buck, Local Sketches and Legends, “The Bird of Happy Omen,” his recollection of the nurse and his later visit to see an owl
- Upper Moreland Historical Association, Trail of History, site 30, Buck’s homeUnavailable ·
- Alexander Wilson, American Ornithology, snowy owl account and plate in the work Buck consulted
