Kite (rfX, agyah', so called from its clamorous cry ; Sept. iKTtv V. r. ((>;r(i'oc,Vulg. vidtur ; but in Job. xxviii, 7. yi'i, Auth. Version "vulture"), an unclean and kecn- sight.cd bird of prey (Lev. xi, 14 ; Dent. xiv. 13). The version of I'seudo-Jonathan lias the black culture ; the Venetian Greek koXoiui', or jackdaic ; Kimchi STX3, or magpie; Saadias and Abelwahd the male /i or ncd otvl — most of which are evidentlv mere conjectures, with lit- V.*— H
tie regard to the context, which classes the bird in question with other species of the falcon tribe. See (tLede. The allusion in Job alone affords a clew to its identification. The deep mines in the recesses of the mountains from which the labor of man extracts the treasures of the earth are there described as "a track which the bird of prey hath not known, nor hath the eye of the ayyah looked upon it." Bochart (^Iliernz. ii, 193 sq., 779), regarding the etymology of the word, con- nected it with the Arabic al-yuyu, a kind of hawk, so called from its cry ydyd, described by Damir as a small bird with a short tail, used in hunting, and remarkable for its great courage, the swiftness of its flight, and the keenness of its vision, which is made the subject of praise in an Arabic stanza quoted by Damir. The Eng- lish designate it as the merlin, the Falco cesalon of Lin- nffius, which is the same as the Greek ahaXiov and Latin cesalo. This smallest of British hawks is from ten
English Merlin.
to twelve inches long ; the male with blue-gray "back and wings, body rufous ; the female dark brown back and wings, with brownish-white body (see Penny Cyclop. s. V. Merlin). Gesenius, however (Thesaur. p. 39), is in- clined to regard the Hebrew term as a general denomi- nation of the hawk genus, on account of the addition n3i72?, after its kind. See Hawk. " The Talmud goes so far as to assert that the four Hebrew words rendered in the A.V. 'vulture,' 'glcde,' and 'kite,' denote one and the same bird (Lewysohn, Zoo/o^«e des Talniuds,^ 196). Seetzen (i, 310) mentions a species of falcon used in Syria for hunting gazelles and hares, and a smaller kind for hunting hares in the desert. Russell {Aleppo, ii, 196) enumerates seven different kinds employed by the na- tives for the same purpose. Robertson (Claris Penta- teuchi) derives ayyah from the Hob. n^N, an obsolete root, which he connects with an Arabic wortl, the pri-
Ked Kite.
KITHLISII
114
KITTO
man* mcanin;; of which, according to Schultcns, is ' to turn.' Iftliis derivation be the true one, it is not im- probable that ' kite' is the correct rendering. The hab- it which birds of this genus have of 'saiUng in circles, with the riulder-like tail by its inclination governing the curve,' as Yarrell says, accords with the Arabic deri- vation" (Smith). Wood (/iih/e Ai/ii/uifg, p. 358) inclines to adopt Tristram's identification of the aijynh with the red kite {Milvns regalis), which is scattered all over Pal- estine, feeding chietly on the smaller birds, mice, reptiles, and fish. Its piercing sight and soaring habits pecul- iarly suit the passage in Job. See Vultuue.
Kith'lish (Ileb. KithUsh', d-^bna, prob. for bns Ui"'X, a mini's wall; Sept. Xa^aXiic v. r. KaSrXwQ and M«rtX''^C'^""^S' eel/ills'), a town in the valley or plain (Sheplielah) of Judah, mentioned between Lalnnam and Gederoth (Josh, xv, 40) ; evidently situated in the south-western group, possibly at the " mound and some foundations called JelameK^ (Robinson, Researches, ii, 38(3), on wady el-IIeroy, between Gaza and Lachish (Van de Velde, Map). A writer in Fairbairn's Diction- ari/, s. v., proposes the ruined site el-Jilas given by Smith (in Robinson's Res. iii, Appendix, p. 119) in this vicinity; but this is not laid down on any map, if, in- deed, it be not the same place as the above. The deri- vation proposed by the same writer for the name Kith- lish, from rriS, io crush, and TIJ"'?, a lion, as if it were the haunt of that animal, is fancifid, and unwarranted by any allusion of the kind in the text; the form, more- over, woidd then have been O'^PPlS.
Kit'roii (Heb. Kitron', "(ill^p, Icnotttj, otherwise curtailed, or castle; Sept. Ksrpojv v. r. Js.i(^piov, and even XeiSuoJf), a city of Zebulon from which the Israel- ites were long unable to expel tlie native Canaanites (.Judg. i, 30). It is very possibly the same elsewhere called Kattatii (Josh, xix, 15), notwithstanding the objection of Keil {Comment, on Josh, ad loc.) that this and all the other names are needed as distinct cities in order to make up the number twelce there specified ; for even thus the number will be incomplete, without either supposing the text corrupt or borroAving from those enu- merated in the preceding verses (doubtless the true so- lution), in either of which cases these three names, so nearly identical (Kattah, Kartah, Kitron), may be as- signed to one place. Schwarz (Palest, p. 173), on Tal- mudical grounds, apparently incorrectly, identifies it with Scpphoris (q. v.).
Kit'tim (den. x, 4; 2 Chron. i, 7). See Ciiittiji.
Kittle, Andrew N., a minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, was born at Kindcrhook, N. Y., in 1785, graduated at Union College in 1804, studied theology under Drs. Frocligh and Livingston, and entered the ministry in 1800. Until 1846 he Avas successively pas- tor of the churches of Red Hook Landing and St. John's, Linlithgo, Upper Red Hook, and Stuyvesant. Early consecrated to the Lord, he was an able, vigorous, and indefatigable minister of Jesus Christ. Though he was of good record as a theologian and a general scholar, possessed of strong common sense, and fond of reading, his retiring disposition kept him aloof from the agita- ting controversies and public excitements of the times. Aspiring only to be a preacher and pastor, he dwelt among his people until the inlirmitics of age constrained him to give up the active ministry. He died in 18(54. Kittle was a man of tine features and noble form, a dig- nilied Christian gentleman, Riid a true man of God. — Corwin, Manual of R,f. Church, p. 12G. (W. J, R. T.)