screecher n
A howling storm.
1877 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 32 As we had anticipated it came to blow a regular screecher which soon caused a big sea.
2 An undernourished harp seal-pup; BLEATER.
1924 ENGLAND 193-4 I saw several nogg-heads in different scouting trips away from the ship, but not one would the men ever kill. One day a fireman brought in a nogg-head—alias a 'screecher,' though why so called I do not know. So far as I could learn, they never make any noise at all. C 70-12 ~ This is the name given to a baby seal which has lost its mother and has survived by eating snow and ice. The seal is only about half the size of the regular harp seal when it is a month old. It changes its coat taking on the appearance of the regular harp seal but does not grow mainly because of lack of nourishment.
