136 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, 



And stretch her wings towards the south 2 



That is, ' doth she know, through thy skill and wisdom, the precise 

 period for taking flight, or migrating and stretching her wings to- 

 wards a southern or warmer climate ? ' Her migration is not con- 

 ducted by the wisdom and prudence of man ; but by the superin- 

 tending and upholding providence of God. 



The KITE may with propriety be noticed here, as it belongs to 

 the same family of birds ; and the scriptural references to it not be- 

 ing of sufficient importance to require a lengthened account of its 

 nature and habits. It is remarkable for the quickness of its sight, 

 to which there is evidently an allusion in Job xxviii. 7, though the 



* vulture' is inserted in our authorized version : 



There is a path which no fowl knoweth, 

 And which the eye of the kite hath not seen. 



The same word occurs in a plural form in Isaiah xiii. 22 ; chap, 

 xxxiv. 14 ; and Jer. 1. 39 ; in all which places our translation reads 



* wild beasts of the islands,' which Bochart understands of 'jackals;' 

 but by the several contexts, as Parkhurst remarks, and particularly 

 the last, it may a$ well denote a kind of unclean birds. 







