The owl whose “eerie, mysterious” hooting “never fails to enchant” Simon Worrall (What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman review, 29 June) must be a tawny owl – or even a pair of them, since the twit twoo which conventionally represents the sound of an owl is actually the call and answer of a pair of birds. Barn owls, despite their undoubted beauty, are not called screech owls for nothing.
Dr Judith Woolf
Department of English and related literature, University of York
• What a beautiful thing for Joe Pasquale to say that as a young child, when his mum’s depression started, “I decided at that moment that it was my job, until the end of her life, to make her laugh every single day” (Joe Pasquale looks back: ‘In my early days I used to die on my arse a lot’, 1 July). Joe, you’re a hero, I hope you are proud of yourself.
David Cross
Dungannon, County Tyrone
