144 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



er, was not what its name would seem to import, but a kind of pulse 

 or pea, which is common in Judea, and to which the Arabians give 

 this name. See 2 Sam. xvii. 28. 



The TURTLE is only a variety of the dove, as is also the common 

 pigeon. The former is something the smaller of the two ; but the 

 principal difference between this and the other birds, is in its migra- 

 tory disposition. To this circumstance there is evidently an allu- 

 sion in Jer. viii. 7: 'The stork in the heaven knowcth her appoint- 

 ed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe 

 the time of their coming.' It is also referred to in Cant. ii. 31, ]2, 

 where it is recognised as the welcome harbinger of the returning 

 spring : * Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away ; for, lo ! 

 the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on 

 the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of 

 the turtle is heard in our land.' 



THE SWALLOW 7 . 



THE only mention of this bird is in Jsaiah xxxviii. 14., and Jer- 

 emiah viii. 7. In the former passage, Hezekiah, referring to the 

 severity of his recent affliction, says, 'Like a swallow, or a crane, 

 so did I chatter.' The note of the swallow, being quiek and mourn- 

 ful, the allusion of the king has been supposed to be to his prayers, 

 which were so interrupted by groanings, as to be but like the quick 

 twitterings of the swallow. This seems to have occasioned the pi- 

 ous monarch to regard with suspicion the sincerity and fervor of 

 his supplications, thus delivered but in broken accents ; and in bit- 

 terness of spirit he casts himself upon the unbounded mercy of his 

 God, exclaiming, * O Lord, I am oppressed ; undertake for me.' 

 The passage in Jeremiah, refers to the well-known migration of this 

 bird ; a circumstance from which the faithful prophet takes occa- 

 sion to reprove the ingratitude and infidelity of the favored tribes : 

 * The turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of 

 their coming ; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord 



