Hegascorfc asio . ( ? ) . 
Concord., 
1893. 
July 20. 
Mass. Strange cry. 
At about 10 o'clock this evening as I was sitting in the 
house writing I heard through the open ^.window in the direc- 
tion of the Manse what I took at first to be a Cuckoo but on 
going to the window and putting out my head I got the sound 
more plainly a second time and at once recognized the fact 
that it was something quite new to me. There were five cooing 
notes given more rapidly than those of a Cuckoo but slower 
than those of a Screech Owl and all on the same key. The tone 
however, resembled that of the Owl when cooing and I suspect 
that Megascous was really the author of the sound which was 
repeated six or eight times in all, at short intervals. If 
it really was a Screech Owl it is the first that I have heard 
in Concord this year . I fear the long hard winter destroyed 
most of these interesting and useful birds. 
