THE HAWK AND THE KITE. 135 



erty,*and to break their chains upon the heads of their oppressors. 

 He carried them out of Egypt, and led them through the wilderness 

 into their promised inheritance. He taught them to know their 

 strength-; he instructed them in the art of war; he led them to bat- 

 tle 5 and, by his almighty arm, routed their enemies. 



It is remarkable that Cyrus, compared in Isaiah xlvi. 11, o an 

 eagle (so the word translated ' ravenous bird' should be rendered), 

 is]by Xenophon said to have had an eagle for his ensign ; using, 

 without knowing it, the identical word of the prophet, with only a 

 Greek termination to it. So exact is the correspondence betwixt 

 the prophet and the historian, the prediction and the event. 



In Lev. xi. 18, we read of the * gier eagle' (Hebrew, HACHAM), 

 though, being associated with water birds, it is doubtful whether 

 any kind of eagle is intended. 



There are two other species of the eagle or vulture, placed by 

 Moses in his list of prohibited birds ; the Ossifrage and the Osprey, 

 but they do not call for particular remark. 



THE HAWK AND THE KITE, 



THIS bird, which is distinguished by the swiftness of its flight, is 

 appropriately termed the flier, in the Hebrew scriptures. But the 

 term is not confined to the individual species of bird properly called 

 the^hawk ; it includes the various species of the falcon family, which 

 is very numerous. 



The hawk was highly venerated by the heathen, but it was pro- 

 nounced unclean by the Jewish lawgiver ; and was an abomination 

 to the people of Israel. Its flesh was not to be eaten, nor its car- 

 cass touched with impunity. The reason of this law may probably 

 be found in the dispositions and qualities of the bird ; she is a bird 

 of prey, and, by consequence, cruel in her temper, and gross in her 

 manners. Her mode of living, too, may, perhaps, impart a disagree- 

 able taste and flavor to the flesh, and render it, particularly in a 

 warm climate, improper for the table. 



Most of the species of hawks are birds of passage, to which cir- 

 cumstance'there is a reference in Job xxxix. 26 : 



