16 OUR DOMESTIC FOWLS. 



no mention is made of them, nor know we 

 wliether they were allowed to be eaten or not ; 

 it is very probable that all web-footed swim- 

 ming birds might be included under the term 

 swan, (tins/iemeth,) granting that bird* to be 

 really intended and therefore prohibited. Both 

 tame geese and ducks in the present day are 

 rarely to be met with in Syria, or western 

 Asia generally. They are not in demand 

 among the Moslems, who rarely eat them. 



With respect to those domestic birds, 

 originally imported from central Africa or 

 America, as the Guinea-fowl and turkey, we 

 cannot, as a matter of course, find any allusion 

 to them in the Scriptures ; but it is some- 

 what strange that the pheasant, from the 

 borders of the Phasis and the country around 

 the Euxiue, and so remarkable for beauty, 

 should not be noticed. We think, however, 

 that an easy explanation may be given : when 

 the waters of the deluge were assuaging, Noah 

 selected two birds by way of experiment, the 

 raven and the dove ; the ark was left dry on 

 mount Ararat, probably in Armenia ; we have 



* Michaelis and Parkhurst think the goose is intended, others 

 the Hyacinlhine gallinule, a beautiful bird allied to tlie -vvatei- 

 beu. 



