FAMILY Bubonldee. 



Solconeluded toput the matter to tli.- te>t 1 . y giving son- 

 orou>!\ t he full Screech Owl song in a series of <jii. 

 whittles running down the scale. In less than five * 

 there appeared in the dusk of the evening half a dozen 

 young Screech Owls, who flew about with silent wings, 

 and at last perched upon the rustic fence, the arbor, and 

 theoldboat \\hirhwasiilledwithgardenflowers. They 

 had answered my call promptly, and had come to see 

 " what was up !" Their notes were simply weird. 

 of cross let ween a sneeze and the whee/e <}' a jntirof 

 leathern bellows with the wail of a " half-1'ro/en puppy" 

 (Wilson's simile) thrown in to make matters \\\<>\. 

 terious ! I shortly came to the conclusion that these 

 were young birds which had not yet learned to sing 

 properly, so I gave them a lesson or two, at the same 

 time profiting by the experience, and getting in a few 

 lessons for myself. The interview proving satisfactory 

 or unsatisfactory (I do not know which) the birds flew 



away. But I had got a new idea of variety in Owl 

 music, and had learned that the following familiar dul- 

 cet tones were not by any means all of the repertoire of 

 the Screech Owl. 



Tremando. 







My annotations have, in most instances, proved very 

 similar to those of Mr. Cheney whose verbal description 

 of the song can not be improved upon. He writes : " This 

 owl ascends the scale generally not more than one or two 

 s " (i. e., one or two tones) ; " the charm lies in the 

 manner of his descent sometimes by a third, again by a 

 fourth, and still again by a M\th. I can b-st describe it 



