184
Rheims, France.
1897.
July 15.
(No. 2).
five to eight, rising from the ground in pastures and gardens
and flying up into the trees. There were also a good many
Rooks and Turtle Doves but Wood Pigeons were scarcer.
  We reached Coucy-le-Chateau at 11.30, lunched at the Red
Lion Inn and then drove up the steep hill to the village where
we walked to the castle. The shade trees and shrubbery in and
about the castle were alive with birds. A Robin, Blackbird,
Wren, and many Greenfinches were singing and I saw a Green
Woodpecker (very Flicker-like in flight and general appearance
and behavior) and dozens of Chaffinches. The guide told us 
that Owls frequented the ruins, and pointed out a quantity of
pellets under a crevice in one of the ruined towers. He said
the bird was "Le grand Duc" (Bubo maximus) but I think it more
likely to be the Barn Owl although the pellets were certainly
large enough for those of a true Bubo. I found two of these
pellets, both perfectly fresh, on the floor of the big Donjon
Tower. Feathers of Jackdaws strewed the floor of all the tow-
wers and I found the mummified remains of a young Jackdaw and
those of several large Moles in one of these towers.
  The guide said that Bats inhabit the subterranean cham-
bers.
  Scores of Swifts were continually dashing about the tower
uttering their incisive, ampelis-like Zi-i-i-i-ing, and the