Hobbit2 - Chapter 02 - Roast Mutton - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Selmo · 05-15-2012, 09:08 AM

“Hoot twice like a barn-owl and once like a screech-owl”.

Barn owl and screech-owl are two different names for the same bird.
They don't hoot, they screech.

Does this explain Bilbo's confusion or is Bilbo ignorant of all things pertaining to owls?
Is Thorin also ignorant or is it all down to a lapse of memory on Bilbo's part when he wrote down the story some years later?

Or, horror of horrors, is Tolkien wrong?

.

05-15-2012, 09:08 AM	#6
Selmo Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: The Shire (Staffordshire), United Kingdom Posts: 273	“Hoot twice like a barn-owl and once like a screech-owl”. Barn owl and screech-owl are two different names for the same bird. They don't hoot, they screech. Does this explain Bilbo's confusion or is Bilbo ignorant of all things pertaining to owls? Is Thorin also ignorant or is it all down to a lapse of memory on Bilbo's part when he wrote down the story some years later? Or, horror of horrors, is Tolkien wrong? .