THE


AVICULTURAL MAGAZINE


BEING THE JOURNAL OF

THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY

FOR THE STUDY OF

FOREIGN & BRITISH BIRDS

IN FREEDOM & CAPTIVITY


Third Series.— Vol. XII.— No. 12.— All rights reserved. DECEMBER, 1921.


NOTE ON COLORATION AND VOICES OF


SOME OWLS


By E. Gr. B. Meade-Waldo


I will try and answer some of Mr. F. D. Welch's queries by beginning

at the end ! The spotted breast and flanks in Strix delicatula is sexual.

In the Brown Owls the males when adult have almost invariably

white breasts without spots ; when young they occasionally have a

few spots on the flanks, but these are lost with years. The reverse is

the case with the females, the spots on flanks, etc., get thicker and

more extended with age.


The very dark Ural Owl which was in an aviary with an adult of the

normal colour was a melanistic — two of these melanistic forms arrived

— and I believe it is not very rare in one locality. The Ural Owl is a

true Wood Owl, with all the habits of our Tawny Owl. An adult female

that I had in confinement for some years escaped and immediately

resumed her natural wild life in our woods. She was evidently a wild-

caught bird, and evidently also the mother of a young one that I

obtained with her. She hunted like the Tawny Owl, floating from tree

to tree silently, and intently listening for the slightest movement in

leaves or grass. She evidently knew all about squirrels, for when she

had only been out a week I saw her visit several squirrels' dreys and pull

them about to see if the owner was at home. She was seen occasionally

for about twelve months, and was eventually shot about 40 miles

away two years after her escape.


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