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



but is the universal and exclusive name of the Egyptian Vulture 

 {Neophron percnopterus) throughout Africa and Western Asia. 



The Hebrew H^^ltV^ "'azniyah," rendered 'Osprey' in our 

 version^ seems to be applied generally to all the larger Eagles, 

 and especially to the commonest of them in Palestine, Circaetus 

 gallicus (Gm.), all of which are included by the Arabs under the 

 term <__j\jj£, " 'okab," with distinctive epithets. 



* Vulture ' is, in the authorized version, a rendering for TV^ 



" dayah" a term which may be recognized at once in the modern 

 Arabic ^jjj,, " h'dayah/' 'the Kite' or 'Glede,' by which word 



it is translated in other passages. This name probably included 

 also the Buzzard, distinguished in the modern vernacular as 

 " Shahin,'' 



All the smaller Falconida are comprised under the Hebrew 

 name ^i, " netz/' but with the addition "after his kind," 



showing that the sacred writer was well aware of the numerous 

 species included under this term. 



The Owls are comprised in the Hebrew nomenclature under 

 four names, f]WJ^ "yanshuph"; Dl3^ "cos"; 1')Bp , " kippoz" ; 



and n^Vb, "lilith"; translated 'Owl,' 'Great Owl,' 'Little 



Owl,' and ' Screech Owl.' None of these names seem to have 

 glossarial representatives in the modern Arabic, though the 

 different species are as clearly distinguished in one language as 

 in the other ; and it seems pi'obable that the Bubo ascalaphus, 

 Syrnium aluco, Athene meridionalis, and Scops giu are the four 

 species especially distinguished by the Hebrews. 



I fear I owe an apology for introducing this philological dis- 

 quisition ; but the subject is not without some bearing on the 

 ornithology of the country, as illustrating the species most fami- 

 liarly known, and therefore most abundant in Palestine 3500 

 years ago. In the intervening period there has probably been 

 far less change in the avifauna than in the human population. 



Gypaetus barbatus (L.) heads the list of Palestine raptorials. 

 I do not think that we accumulated any new facts respecting the 

 economy of the Lammergeyei', though our observations corrobo- 

 rated facts previously ascertained. Although looked upon as 



s2 



