night-raven

English

Noun

night-raven (plural night-ravens)

1. A bird active at night, sometimes identified with a specific species such as a night owl or nightjar, and sometimes seen as a separate animal in its own right.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     sad Horrour with grim hew, / Did alwayes sore, beating his yron wings; / And after him Owles and Night-rauens flew, / The hatefull messengers of heauy things [...].

   • 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, IV.4:

     Cursed creatures, messengers of death, possess the world. / Night-ravens, screech-owls, and voice-killing mandrakes […].

See also

• Nycticorax