screech owl

plural screech owls

1. Any New World owl of genus Megascops.

   The screech owls winter in the north and are distinctly farsighted in preparing for winter.

   1911, Anna Botsford Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study, 24th edition, published 1939, page 102

   1 more example

   And I listened for a voice;— / But my heart was all I heard; / Not a screech-owl, not a loon, / Not a tree-toad said a word.

   1921, Edna St. Vincent Millay, “The Blue-Flag in the Bog”, in Second April

2. UKA common barn owl, of species Tyto alba, found almost worldwide.

   The poet Propertius refers to a philtre containing snake bones, a toad, and the feathers of a screech-owl.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 186

3. A mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus).