Brethren,
In a learning experiment using multiple filehandles in a hash, I stumbled on something that I don't understand.

#/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

local (*E,*F,*G);

my $string  = <<JUNK;
    I will print
    unless I perish
JUNK

my %rh      =   (E=> *E, F=> *F, G=> *G);

open  $rh{$_}, ">test_$_.txt" or die $!   for keys %rh;
print { $rh{$_}} $_.$string               for keys %rh;
[download]

close $rh{$_} or die $!                   for keys %rh;

#error: 
# Bad file descriptor at C:\Perl\scripts\test5.pl line 20.
[download]

Note that strict is being used.
Why is $_, above, allowed to be used as a Filehandle? In the other contexts, open() or print (), the script would have failed with appropriate messages that 'String ('F') can't be used ..' etc.

So, close() doesn't expect the same strictness that open() does. Is that as it ought to be?
(ActiveState perl 5.6.1)
mkmcconn