3 AUGUST 1929, Page 14

Country Life MORE OWL INTELLIGENCE.

A very odd story of the perverse intelligence of a number of Spanish owls on his estate was told recently by Sir George Courthope to the R. S. P. B., and was commented on in the Spectator. I have just heard the full details from one of the watchers, and they add not a little to the strangeness of the tale. It will be remembered that two things were proved against these Spanish owls : (1) that they killed young birds ; (2) that not young birds of any sort but beetles of a particular sort were the chief of their diet. The following are the historical facts that solve this apparent contradiction.

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