Shakespeare Henry 6-3|act=II|scene=i|page=153|column=1|passage=Their Weapons like to Lightning, came and went: Our Souldiers like the Night-Owles lazie flight, Or like a lazie Threſher with a Flaile, Fell gently downe, as if they ſtrucke their Friends.
Scott Tales of My Landlord 4|volume=IV|chapter=VIII|page=220|passage=The well imitated cry of the night-owl, too frequent a guest in the wilderness that its call should be a subject of surprise, seemed to be a signal generally understood among them; ...
1867, Fadette Marian Calhoun Legare Reeves, Ingemisco Chapter VI, Wild waileth the night-wind through turret and hall, Where the spider weaveth the funeral pall, And voice of old from the dead Past call, While the night-owl responds from the crumbling old wall, Tu-whit! the midnight is murky and drear— Tu-whoo! the deed is a deed of fear.
1873, Leigh Hunt, The Wishing-cap Papers. ... Now First Collected Chapter No. III. Piccadilly and the West End., There we should have waked the night-owl with a catch, had an owl been within hearing. The watchman did instead.
1874, James Judson Lord, w, The night-owl,—a mug-shaped instrument, with an orifice in its side, through which a whistle is inserted,—when used, is partly filled with water, to give the tremulous owl-hoot sound.
1889, Charles Barnard, The Tone Masters: A Musical Series for Young People Chapter VI, At the right was the piano, with a young lady seated, ready to play. Just before the curtain, and arranged in a semicircle, sat the juvenile orchestra,—Kitty with a tin trumpet; Jane with her night-owl filled with water and ready to pipe up; Julia with another bird, but having a different note; John with his drum, and Edward with his trumpet.
Whitman Leaves of Grass|poem=O Magnet-South|page=360|passage=O the strange fascination of these half-known half-impassable swamps, infested by reptiles, resounding with the bellow of the alligator, the sad noises of the night-owl and the wild-cat, and the whirr of the rattlesnake, ...
1926, Sven Hedin, My Life as an Explorer Chapter Robinson Crusoe, From time to time, I called "Kasim!" at the top of my voice. But the sound died away among the tree-trunks; and I got no answer but the "clevitt" of a frightened night-owl.
