164



Frederick D. Welch—Notes on Screamers



changed their quarters and took possession of a dovecote above the

stable roof. The dovecote has twelve compartments, with an alighting-

board in front of each. It was most entertaining to see the young

Owls playing hide-and-seek from one compartment to another. The

old birds used to be out well before dusk, quartering the grassland and

the garden. In the time of the vole plague it seemed they were

scarcely gone before they were back again with food. But early last

summer all was changed, for there were no field-mice. The Owls were

out in the morning, and hunted all day long, even when the sun was

hot. Day after day we saw them from our window, working hard and

almost hopelessly. They would frequently return to sit on the walling

of the terrace, but their wings drooped, and they seemed to be getting

thin and light. Whether they died or went away one could not tell,

but there was no Barn Owl's nest in the dovecote last summer, nor

have I seen a Barn Owl here since that time.


But now field-mice are in normal numbers, and we have Barn Owls

in the dovecote once more. A fortnight ago I noticed a casting in the

stable-yard, and these have increased in number, so it is certain that

owls are there ; moreover, I hear, as I lie in bed, the old familiar

screeching. But the ways of the newcomers are not those of the old

pair. They have never yet been seen in the dusk. Each evening I go

down into the garden, but never yet have seen or heard a Barn Owl

at that time; they do not venture out till dark. Also, they are more

untidy than our old pair, for these did not leave their castings in the

stable-yard.



NOTES ON SCREAMERS


By Frederick D. Welch, M.R.C.S.


As an example of the Derbian Screamer (Cliauna chavaria ) had

arrived at the Zoo, I made a special visit in August, 1920, chiefly with

the object of hearing its voice and of noticing if its scream agrees with

that of the allied species ( C . cristata), which is also represented in the

Gardens.


Although it did not utter anything analogous to the scream of

an adult pair of Crested Screamers now opposite to it in the Great



