OCTOBER. 167 



CONFUSION OF OWLS. 



They deserve the more credit because, while you 

 may search in vain through five or six works on 

 natural history to find out what species of owl utters 

 the call "Ke-wick" that is, "Tu-whit" some 

 naturalists distinctly, but erroneously, state that the 

 barn-owl, not the brown owl, utters such a call-note. 

 They also attribute to the barn-owl a hoot somewhat 

 similar to that of the brown owl. They have, in fact, 

 confused the two birds together, because when these 

 inhabit neighbouring areas the barn-owls round 

 farm-buildings and the brown owls in some adjacent 

 wood the young of the latter, after being driven 

 from the wood by their parents, are very liable to 

 invade for a night or two the barn-owls' realm. Then 

 you may hear the persistent hoots of the brown owls, 

 as well as their call-note " Ke-wick," and the screech- 

 ing and hissing of the barn-owls proceeding perhaps 

 from the very clumps of trees where the latter have 

 nested. At ordinary times, however, the two owls 

 keep to their own localities; and, while you may 

 hear regular hooting from the wood, round the barns 

 you will hear screeches only. Barn-owls may also 

 be kept in captivity for years in an aviary, where 

 they lay eggs and incubate them, and where they 

 are nightly visited by wild barn-owls, but never once 

 will you hear either " Ke-wick " or " Hoo-oo " pro- 

 ceeding thence, but only angry hisses or lovelorn 

 screeches. 



