was probably the hawk best known to the Israelites at the time this law was delivered. It is the bird which the falconers of Aleppo call by the name of Al Saphy, and which they employ in taking herons, bustards, and other large birds. Dr. Russell, in his Natural History of Aleppo, also mentions the kestril, or falco tinnunculus; the falcon gentil, which the natives know by the name of al-Shaheen, which flies at all kinds of birds; one which they call al-Huz, or Baraban, which is employed against the antelope and hare, and which seems to be the Gerfalcon; another called al-Zygranuz, which acts against waterfowl, and is without doubt the goshawk; two, named al-Dugrau and al-Ispoor, used against francolins and partridges, and which are not clearly identified, though they are probably of the smaller and less powerful hawks of the genus nisus, and are celebrated for the celerity of their flight, and the activity with which they pursue their prey. Of this genus the sparrow-hawk is the most familiar type, and is probably one of the birds thus indicated. Then there is the Al-Bashak, and is without doubt the crested buzzard (Falco bacha), which is the principal enemy of the Shaphan, which has been noticed under v. 5. Other species probably occur-but hawks of no one particular species are very common in Syria or elsewhere. 17. Little owl.' Di cos; Sept, vUKTIKópa. This was perhaps the common barn-owl (Strix flammea), which is extensively spread over Europe, Asia, and America. Our version gives three owls in two verses; but this appears to be the only real one. Some writers, however, think that the list of water-fowl begins here, and that the sea-gull is intended. -'Cormorant.' The Hebrew name, shalach, is from a root signifying to cast or throw, and, as well as the Greek καταράκτης, appears to refer to the action of a bird in casting or darting itself down from the high rocks into or towards the water. Hence it has been identified with the gannet, the gull, and the cormorant. Some species of cormorant are doubtless found on the coast of Palestine, but none of them rush flying upon their prey, as the indica tions seem to require. The gannet, or solan goose, which recent writers seem to prefer, darts from great elevations into the sea to catch its prey, sometimes rising to the surface half a minute after the plunge. But this bird does not appear to have been noticed in the Mediterranean; it is not in Russell's list of the birds of Syria, and is not known to come more southward than the British Channel. Cuvier considers Gesner to be right in regarding this bird as a gull. In a matter so doubtful it may be as well to accept this conclusion as to offer any other-especially as the common gull, or sea-mew (Larus canus) is so well known on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean as to have acquired an Arabic name-that of Duikely. Great owl.'yanshuph, Sept. Bis.-The sacred bird, so celebrated in ancient story-the Ibis religiosa of Cuvier-is by some supposed to be the bird intended. This bird was embalmed by the Egyptians; and specimeus have been preserved in a state of such perfection that not only the skeleton but the feathers might be studied, in order to ascertain its identity with the living animal. It is about the size of a common fowl. While young, the neck is partially covered with down, or minute feathers, which fall off when the plumage is complete. The major part of its feathers are of a clear and spotless white. The head, bill, neck, and legs are of a deep black; as are also the tips of the quill-feathers, with a violet reflection. The last four secondaries are of the same tincture, and by their length and silky nature form an elegant plume, mantling over the hinder parts of the body. Although, on the authority of the Septuagint, which is entitled to respect when we can ascertain, as in this case, the species it intends to indicate, we have set down the yanshuph as the ibis-we cannot withhold Col. C. H. Smith's objection that-- A bird so rare about Memphis, and totally unknown in Palestine, could not be the yanshuph of the Pentateuch, neither could the black ibis which appears about Diametta, nor any species of warm and watery regions be well taken for it.' It may, however, be observed, that the birds named in this chapter are not GREAT OWL (Ibis religiosa). necessarily birds of Palestine, unless indicated to be such in other passages of Scripture. This is not the case with the present bird, which is only again mentioned in Isa. xxxiv. 11; where it is described as belonging to a region (Edom) nearer than Palestine to the place where this law was delivered; and that region seems most unsuitable for the night-heron-a frequenter of the sea-shore, lakes, marshes, and rivers-which appears to him to be, more probably than the ibis, the yanshuph of Scripture. The bird must be regarded as most uncertain. 18. Swan.' nn tinshemeth, Toppupíwv.- Porphyrio hyacinthinus, or Hyacinthine gallinule-a bird very famous among the ancients for the beauty of its plumage, which is indigo mingled with red. It inhabits marshy situations in the neighbourhood of rivers and lakes, and is found universally in the Levant and the islands of the Mediterranean. It feeds itself standing on one leg, holding its food in the claws of the other. It was anciently kept tame in the precincts of pagan temples, and therefore perhaps is here marked unclean, as most, if not all the sacred animals of the heathen are. When, in the decline of idolatry, the SWAN (Porphyrio Hyacinthinus). dog, peacock, ibis, the purple bird in question, and other domesticated ornaments of the temples had disappeared, GIER-EAGLE. EGYPTIAN VULTURE (Vultur Percnopterus). was deemed a sacred bird by the ancient idolators of Egypt, and its existence is still protected by law and public opinion. This vulture extends to Palestine in the summer season, and is there frequently seen, especially about the borders of the lake of Tiberias and in the plains of Philistia, solitary or in numbers according to circumstances of food; for a good supply of carrion fails not to attract many of them. 19. Sterk.' pn, chasidah. There is little doubt that the stork, probably in both the white and black species, is really intended by the chasidah-a name importing benignity or pity. It is several times mentioned by the sacred writers in such a manner as to intimate their familiar knowledge of the bird and its habits; and when we come to such passages we shall illustrate the circumstances to which they direct attention. The bird is an inhabitant of the warmer regions, but often migrates to higher latitudes to lay its eggs and hatch its young. It is particularly abundant in Egypt and the western parts of Asia, and is also well known in different parts of Europe; and, wherever found, its amiable and confiding disposition has secured it the protection and esteem of man. No bird is more noted for its attachment to its young; and, which is more rare among birds, for its kindness to the old and feeble of its own race. It has also acquired a sort of sanctity in different countries, not less perhaps from its grave and contemplative appearance than from its predilection for churches, mosques, and temples, on the roofs or towers of which-perhaps because they are in general the loftiest buildings-it usually prefers to establish its large and well-compacted nest. It also builds on the roofs of private houses; and, in the East, on the wind-chimneys, by which apartments are ventilated. This habit brings it into close connection with man in Turkey and Persia; in most parts of which countries people sleep at night on the flat roofs of their houses, and sometimes sit and amuse themselves there in the cool of the evening. The storks, although then full in view, and themselves observant of all that passes, do not on any occasion exhibit alarm or apprehension. This may as well be a consequence as a cause of the peculiar favour with which they are regarded. But certain it is, that in Turkey, Persia, Egypt, or indeed in any place, even in Europe, to which these birds resort, a man would be universally execrated who should molest a stork, or even disturb its nest during its absence. In some cases the law expressly provides for its protection. It was exactly the same among ancient nations, the laws in some of which made it highly penal to kill a stork. It often appeared to us as if the Orientals in general regarded the stork as a sort of household god, whose presence brought a blessing upon the house on which it established its nest. They also do not overlook the importance of its services in clearing the land of serpents and other noxious reptiles, which form part of its food. Whether the law of Moses prohibited the stork as food, in order to protect its existence, or because the nature of its food rendered it unclean, it is impossible to determine; but there is not the least reason to doubt that the stork's nest and its inmate figured as conspicuously upon the highest points in the towns and villages of ancient Canaan, as they do in the modern Palestine. Multitudes of storks congregate on the borders of the lake of Tiberias. Both the white stork (Ciconia alba) and the black stork (C. nigra) are found in Syria; but the former is most common. -Lapwing' n dukiphath; Sept. roy.-We may conclude this to be the hoopoe (Upupa epops, Linn.), which is often met with in the writings of antiquity; it is an elegant and animated bird, its head being surrounded with a beautiful crest of plumes, which, by their varying motion, seem to express the feelings of the wearer. It is spread over all the warmer regions of the old continent, and occasionally visits this country. It is about twelve inches long, with a fawn-coloured plumage, barred with black and white on the wings and lower parts of the back. Tail black, with a crescent of white at the base. Its food consists of insects, worms, and snails, and it was perhaps on this account forbidden as an article of diet. The bird is common in Egypt, and its presence in Palestine is unquestionable. It occurs in Russell's list of Syrian birds, and Buckingham saw beautifully-crested hoopoes' at Jerash, beyond the Jordan, early in March. HOOPOE (Upupa epops). 'The bat.' (See the note on Isa. ii. 20.) -'Heron.'-The original word anapha is from a root which signifies to breathe short or snort, especially from anger, and hence to be angry. Critics have sought in this the means of identifying the bird, which the comparison of texts does not afford, as the name occurs only here and in the parallel text (Deut. xiv. 18). Now there are many birds to whom the characteristic indicated by the name applies, and accordingly the range of identification has extended over such various birds as the crane, curlew, woodcock, peacock, kite, parrot, mountain falcon, lapwing, goose, crane, and heron. Some of these are clearly impossible, and others shew very deficient information in those by whom they are proposed, and the variety of these conclusions shew how little reliance can be placed upon this principle of identification. Col. Hamilton Smith is, we believe, the only writer who has put in a word for the goose, to which, he says, the name, with reference to its signification, would most obviously apply; and the bird is not otherwise mentioned in Scripture, although it was constantly eaten in Egypt, and must at some seasons have frequented the lakes of Palestine. This is, however, a list of birds excluded from use as food, and the Hebrews do not consider that the goose is among the birds which it prohibits. Col. Smith himself inclines to the heron, 'as uttering a similar sound of displeasure with much more meaning; and the common species, ardea cinerea, is found in Egypt, and is also abundant in the Hauran of Palestine, where it frequents the margins of lakes and pools, and the reedy water-courses in the steep ravines, striking and devouring an immense quantity of fish' (art. HERON in Kitto's Cyclopædia). Another writer in the same work (the Rev. J. F. Denman, in art. ANAPHA) abandons this process of identification in despair, feeling that among so many conflicting claims growing out of it, there is no better course than to turn to the traditional identification, which, through the Septuagint xapadpiós, and the Vulgate caradryon and caradrium, he traces to the genus Charadrius, or of plovers, several species of which are found in Palestine; the most conspicuous there being the golden plover (Charadrius pluvialis), the stone curlew (C. adicnemus), and the lapwing (C. spinosus). This deserves attention; but the questions respecting the anapha can perhaps never be satisfactorily settled. 21. Which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth.'-Insects, reptiles, and worms, are generally prohibited; but a previous exception is here made in favour of those insects, which, besides four walking legs, have also two longer springing legs (pedes saltatorii), and which, under the name of locusts,' are declared clean. Those particularly enumerated seem to indicate the four leading genera of the locust family, of which the domestic cricket, the mole-cricket, the green grasshopper, and the locust, may be taken as representatives. We have deferred an account of the locust to the book of Joel; but our attention is naturally in this place directed to its use as an article of food in the East, and it is interesting to find that even at this early period it was so employed. The vast swarms of the migratory locusts, which occasionally lay waste the oriental plantations and fields, do, themselves, in some measure furnish an antidote to the evils they occasion. The nomades in particular, who look not beyond the day, and have little immediate interest in cultivation, witness their arrival without regret; and they, as well as the poor inhabitants of villages and towns, collect them in great quantities, not only for their own eating, but for sale in the bazaars-for these insects are highly relished by all classes of people. In some towns there are shops exclusively for the sale of locusts. They are so prepared as to be kept for use a considerable time. There are different processes; but the most usual in Western Asia is to throw them alive into a pot of boiling water, mixed with a good quantity of salt. After boiling a few minutes they are taken out, and the heads, feet, and wings being plucked off, the trunks are thoroughly dried in the sun, and then stowed away in sacks. They are usually sold in this condition, and are either eaten without further preparation, or else are broiled, or stewed, or fried in butter. They are very commonly mixed with butter, and thus spread on thin cakes of bread, and so eaten, particularly at breakfast. Europeans have usually an aversion to the eating of these insects from being unaccustomed to them; and we must confess that we did not ourselves receive them at first without some repugnance; but, separately from the question of usage, they are not more repulsive than shrimps or prawns, to which they do, indeed, in taste and other qualities, bear a greater resemblance than to any other article of food to which we are accustomed. The Israelites being in the peninsula of Sinai when they received this law, it becomes a rather remarkable fact that Burckhardt describes the present inhabitants of that peninsula as the only Bedouins known to him who do not use the locust as an article of food. 29. Weasel.'-The Septuagint and the Vulgate agree with our version in rendering choled by weasel,' though it may well seem surprising that it should have found a place among the reptiles. The word as used in the Syriac implies a creeping insidious movement, and may therefore suit the weasel, and was perhaps given also to some of the lizard tribe, which, in warmer climates, often find their way into the dwellings without invitation, and often without a welcome. It may possibly denote the mole, which is common in Syria, and to which the characteristic deduced from the signification of the name is well applicable. On this ground alone the claims of several animals might be equal; but the similarity of the Hebrew choled to the Arabic name for the mole, khlud, gives some preponderance to this conclusion. Mouse.'-See the note on 1 Sam. vi. 5. 'Tortoise. tzab.-Here begins the mention of several animals apparently of the great lizard family, indicated probably as examples designed to exclude the whole class, from the largest Saurians down to the smallest of the tribe. That several of them should be mentioned will not surprise those who reflect that Syria, Arabia, and Egypt is overrun with animals of this family, but will think that there is every reason to expect allusion to more than one genus in the Scriptures, where so many observations and similes are derived from natural objects familiar to the respective writers. We are led to this conclusion by the high authority of the Septuagint, which refers the different Hebrew names to different kinds of lizards. In the present instance the Sept. translates tzab by 8 кρокódeiros 8 xeporaιos, 'land crocodile,' which is not very clear, but must mean one of the largest kinds of lizards. The largest of all the race is the Nilotic lizard (Varanus Niloticus, the Lacerta Nilotica of Linnæus), which has so much analogy to the crocodile that the Egyptians pretend that the animal is produced from the eggs of the crocodile hatched in a dry place. The animal is more aquatic than any other lizard, although much less so than the crocodile. It swims admirably and causes great destruction among the young and the eggs of the crocodile. It attains a length of five or six feet, and is figured on the old monuments of Egypt. There is another species, the Desert Varan (Varanus arenarius), which is frequent in the deserts bordering Egypt and Palestine. It differs chiefly from the other in its smaller size, and in the less aquatic adaptations of the tail. This is no doubt the land crocodile of Herodotus, and probably the true Scincus of the ancients. The Arabs call both species by the name of Waran, distinguishing the former as Waran el bahr, the river lizard, and the latter as Waran el-hard, the land lizard. The desert species differs much in habit from its aquatic congener. Instead of throwing itself with avidity upon the aliments presented to it, and exhibiting much irritation and desire to injure, as the latter does in captivity-the former, in bondage, altogether refuses food, and it is necessary to put the morsels into its mouth, and compel it to eat. 6 30. Ferret,' N anakah, perhaps the Lacerta gecko of Hasselquist, or Gecko lobatus of Geoffroy, a species of lizard found in countries bordering the Mediterranean; it is of a reddish grey, spotted with brown. It is thought at Cairo to poison the victuals over which it passes, and especially salt provisions, of which it is very fond. It has a voice resembling somewhat that of a frog, which is intimated by the Hebrew name, importing a sigh or a groan. -Chameleon.'-The original is coach; and our version follows the Septuagint (xauaiλéwv) in rendering it by chameleon. But this is still questionable, as we seem better able to recognise the chameleon in the thinshemeth of the preceding verse. The word expresses force or prowess, and seems to indicate one of the most powerful creatures of its class. We therefore take it to be the species mentioned under the last as the true Scincus of the ancients, and as the Varanus arenarius, the Waran el-hard of the Arabs: this is of a large size, sometimes reaching six feet in length, and abounds in the deserts of Africa, Arabia, and southern Syria. Its vigour is evinced by the activity and strength which it manifests in diving into the sands, whence perhaps it is that its body and tail has been, in various forms of preparation, long used medicinally in the East, and was known in the old pharmacy of Europe, under the notion that it repaired exhausted vigour in the human constitution. 1 -'Snail. chomet, in Chaldee, signifies to bow down; it therefore suggests the Lacerta stellio, which is noted for bowing its head, insomuch that the followers of Mohammed kill it, because they say it mimics them in the mode of repeating their prayers. It is about a foot in length, and of an olive colour shaded with black. This species is very common in Palestine, and particularly in Judæa, where Belon affirms that it sometimes attains the size of a weasel. This is the lizard which infests the pyramids, and which in Syria harbours in the crevices |