Correspondence



57



long, yet they nearly all arrived safely. It was suggested that other

lots should be sent to New Zealand, but the War stopped this.


1 am afraid it would not be possible to bring back with me any

birds from New Zealand without obtaining a special licence.


I wonder if 1 shall get a good sight of the interesting Wry-bills.


Yours very faithfully,


C. Barnby Smith.


“ Woodlands,” Retford.


February 21, 1920.



THE OWL’S CRY


Dear Sir, — On the 7th inst. 1 bought a copy of a pocket guide,

Birds of the British Islands, by T. A. Coward (an excellent little book

illustrated by plates copied from Lilford’s Birds), for my younger son,

and upon looking through it yesterday in the article on the Barn Owl

(Flammed flammea), p. 290, I find : —


” During its nightly rounds, for it has regular beats, it

screeches repeatedly, a habit calculated to discount the

advantage gained by its silent flight. The suggestion that

small mammals are startled into movement is hardly supported

by experience, for the alarmed Mouse or Shrew instantly

' freezes ’ and is then difficult to detect.”


You will notice that this does not cover my suggestion that the

screech is to startle its prey from the frozen attitude, and that the

matter is only to be solved by the observation of tame Owls by

aviculturists. It would be interesting to know from where Mr. Coward

got his reference to this suggestion, and also what “ experience ”, if

any, he has had.


I thought it better to bring this to your notice, as I should be

sorry to be the cause of your starting a discussion in your paper that

has already been worked out in other journals.


Yours faithfully,


R. C. Banks.



