243 Rev. H. B. Tristram on the Ornithology of Palestine. 



arctic and boreal Owls, Haliaetus leucoryphus (Pall.), and Bubo 

 maximus. Of these the latter are the only two species which we 

 can expect, by further research, to be added to the Palestine 

 fauna. Besides the raptorial birds included either as residents 

 or stragglers in European catalogues, we only obtained one 

 species, the Fishing Owl, Ketupa ceijlonensis (Gm.), an Indian 

 and not an African type. 



Unobservant as orientals proverbially are of the birds around 

 them, and disposed to be decided " lumpers ^^ in their nomen- 

 clature, yet the native vocabulary for the Accipitres is much 

 richer than for any other class. The Arabs distinguish all 

 the Vultures except the rare Vultur monachus, which they con- 

 found with the Griffon. They have five names for the Falcons, 

 three for the Eagles, and two for the Kites. They recognize both 

 the Kestrels, the Sparrow-Hawks, and have a distinct appellation 

 for the Harriers : while they distinguish the Buho ascalaphus, the 

 White, Little, and Scops Ov/ls. 



Incidentally as natural history is mentioned in Holy Scripture, 

 yet even there we have ten distinct Hebrew names for the rap- 

 torial birds, several of which are at once recognizable in the ver- 

 nacular Arabic of the country. They are, first, D^Q, " peres" 



i. e. ' the breaker,' translated in our version ' Ossifrage,' a name 

 admirably adapted to express the remarkable and well-known 

 habit of the Lammergeyer of dropping its prey, whether mam- 

 mals, serpents, but especially tortoises, from great heights to 

 break their bones or shells. Although the name has been ap- 

 plied in modern scientific nomenclature to one of the Eagles, 

 there can be no doubt but that the Ossifr-aga of the Latin authors 

 and of the authorized version is to be identified with the Gypaete. 

 Secondly, we have "IJi^J "nesher" (Arabic ^,'' niss'r"), 



rendered ' Eagle ' in our version ; but unquestionably in the 

 ancient Hebrew, as in the modern Arabic, the name of the 

 Griffon -Vulture — the most majestic of birds in action and appear- 

 ance, and the type of the Assyrian deity Nisroch. The ex- 

 pression " who enlargeth thy baldness as an eagle's " [nesher), 

 evidently applies only to the Griffon. The Hebrew Dni, 



"racham" (Arabic j^^ , " 7-akhma") is translated ^ Geir-eagle,' 



