Owls are strange birds: because they're crepuscular and twilight isn't the best time for ''seeing'' birds with any clarity they tend to be the stuff of legend and we don't know as much about them as we might. On the other hand, they're the most recognisable of birds, perhaps because of the forward-facing eyes and would look almost human if it was not for that uncanny ability to swivel the neck to almost 360°. Marianne Taylor has gone some way towards correcting this lack of knowledge in ''Beautiful Owls''. She gives us an overview of the species, traces them back to the earliest civilisations and shows their evolution.