44 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN, 



stubble, where they pick up waste grain, but chiefly seeds of 

 wild grasses and weeds with which the fields are rapidly over- 

 grown after the grain has been removed. 



SCREECH OWL. Megascops ado. 



On its twilight excursions after beetles, moths, katydids and" 

 similar favorite dishes the Screech Owl appears on summer 

 evenings on the lawn in front of Dr. Trelease's residence, 

 much to the amusement of his family. Its soft doleful notes 

 belong to the most delectable sounds in Nature and have 

 nothing of the discordant screams, for which other members 

 of the Owl family are renowned. Its name is, therefore, one 

 of the many misnomers, for which we have to thank the early 

 settlers, who instead of giving new names to the new birds of 

 the New World applied names of European birds in an arbi- 

 trary, and often inappropriate, manner. Quail, Partridge,. 

 Pheasant, Robin, Redstart, Tree Sparrow, Meadowlark are 

 some of these appellations, but Screech Owl is the most offen- 

 sive. 



These active little owls are excellent mousers and should 

 therefore be protected and not destroyed, as they often are 

 by misinformed or ill-willed persons, who take pleasure in 

 magnifying the faults of their fellow-creatures in order tO' 

 justify their desire to destroy. They may be attracted to a 

 place by putting up suitable bird-houses, in which they can 

 build their nest and hide in daytime and make themselves at 

 home all the year round, being permanent residents in cur 

 region. 



YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. Coccyzus americanus. 



This is the common Rain Crow of our region. Its queer 

 notes are often heard in sultry weather, but if the gardener 

 were to rely on its prophecy of rain, his plants would suffer 

 irreparable damage. 



During the summer of 1908 its voice was one of the com- 

 mon sounds in the Garden ; it was given in full with a long series 

 of clucks and cows at the beginning of summer and in an ab- 

 breviated form in July, short cow-cows which may be mis- 



