The Screech Owl qb 
The little owls soon came to know my voice. When 
I called his name, Billy in particular would give me 
his peculiar cry of a, even before I was in sight. 
If he failed to answer, I always tried to get him to 
‘speak’ before I would give him his portion of food. 
It was evident that this sound expressed with him 
more than one thing, and it seemed to me to be dif- 
ferently accented on different occasions. I did not 
think at the time that this training would serve in 
any particular way, except that it would probably 
strengthen certain points that have to do with animal 
intelligence. Upon arriving home one day, how- 
ever, I was told that Billy and Betty had escaped, and 
that, although the basement had been thoroughly 
searched, neither could be found. I myself searched 
the basement again, but with no better success. Fi- 
nally I called “Billy, Billy,’’ and listened. Billy 
promptly responded by giving the sound of 4a, and, 
guided by the sense of hearing, I found him sitting 
on the gas pipe close by a joist, with Betty beside him. 
The next morning I put a basin of water into a box, 
and in a short time Billy was taking a bath, and when 
he had completed it, he was the wettest bird that I 
ever saw; even the feathers on the top of his head 
were wet. After this Billy took a bath very often, 
but Betty less often. 
