WONDERS OF THE OWL WORLD

From the opening ""Whoo-oo-oo-aw!"" to the closing exhortation to ""make a deliberate attempt to convince those who consider the owl either vermin or a symbol of evil that it is one of the most beneficial of birds"" -- this is an uninspired but reasonably informative report, no match for Zim's younger Owls (1950), but more comprehensive than the owl coverage in more general bird books. After the disappointingly conventional survey of owls in folklore, superstition, literature and art come more substantial chapters on physical characteristics (especially eyes and ears), habits (food, courtship, nests, raising a family), and outstanding examples (the snowy, burrowing, barn and great horned owls). Readers learn that owls' hearing is as keen as their sight, and that their accuracy in striking prey depends on the number of vibrations per second received by their ears. Also of interest is the discussion of owls' eyes -- but the relevant diagram appears on a page about ears.