BIRDS. 131 



God which this part of creation exhibit ; but, few as they are, they 

 are sufficient to excite our admiration, and inspire us with senti- 

 ments of adoring gratitude to the Author of all being. 



The common name for a bird in the Hebrew Scriptures, is tzephur, 

 the rapid mover, or harrier; a name very expressive of these vola- 

 tile creatures. A more general and indefinite name, is ouph, ajlier ; 

 but this appellation denotes every thing that flies, whether bird or 

 insect. It is frequently translated ' fowl ' in the English Bible. A 

 bird of prey is called oith, a rusher, from the impetuosity with 

 which it rushes upon its prey. In several of the passages where it 

 occurs, our translators have rendered its plural form, by * fowls.' 



The number of birds already known, amounts, we believe, to be- 

 tween three and four thousand. To distinguish the different kinds 

 from each other, and the varieties of the same kind, when they hap- 

 pen to differ, is a work of great difficulty ; and perhaps the attain- 

 ment, when made, would not repay the labor. Linnaeus divides all 

 birds into six classes, namely ; birds of the rapacious kind birds of 

 the pie kind birds of the poultry kind birds of the sparrow kind 

 birds of the duck kind and birds of the crane kind. The first four 

 comprehend the various kinds of land birds ; the two last, those that 

 belong to water. 



From the Hebrew legislator, who had issued the strictest injunc- 

 tions on the subject of animals, clean and unclean, we might nat- 

 turally expect directions equally strict respecting birds ; a class no 

 less distinguished among themselves, by their qualities and modes 

 of life. But here his animal characteristics, derived from the feet, 

 failed ; nor was it easy to fix on marks which should, in every in- 

 stance, guide the learned and the unlearned, to a right conclusion. 

 Hence, there is not in the Mosaic institutes, any reference to con- 

 formation, as the means of distinguishing birds into clean and un- 

 clean, lawful and unlawful ; a list of exceptions forms the sacred di- 

 rectory, and certain kinds are forbidden, without a word concerning 

 those that are allowed. 



In describing the various birds mentioned in Scripture, we shall 

 adopt the three-fold arrangement to which reference was made in 

 our introduction to Zoology. 



