So Ovid (Fast, ii, 853), "Prajnimtia veris hirundo." The species of Syria and Palestine, so far as they
The Swift (t pbdus 02>iis).
are known, appear all to be the same as those of Eu- rope. The following are the most abundant : \. Cypse- lus apus, the common swift or black martin, distin- guished by its larger size, short legs, very long wings, forked tail, and by all the toes of the feet turning for- ward : these, armed with small, crooked, and very sharp claws, enable the bird to hang against the sides of walls, but it cannot rise from the ground on account of the length of its wings. The last two, but more particu- larly this species, we take to be the deror, on account of the name durari, already mentioned; which was most probably applied to it because the swift martin prefers towers, minarets, and ruins to build in, and is, besides, a bird to which the epithet "free" is particu- larly applicable. On the European coast of the Medi- terranean it bears the name of barbota, and in several parts of France, including Paris, is known by the vul- gar name of "le Juif," the Jew; and, finally, being the largest and most conspicuous bird of the species in Pal- estine, it is the type of the heraldic martlet, originally applied in the science of blazon as the especial distinc- tion of Crusader pilgrims, being borrowed from Oriental nations, where the bird is likewise honored with the term hagi, or pilgrim, to designate its migratory hab- its. The deror being mentioned as building on the al- tar seems to imply a greater generalization of the name than we have given it ; for habits of nesting in imme- diate contact with man belong only to the house and window swallows; but in the present instance the ex- pression is not meant to convey a literal sense, but must be taken as referring to the whole structure of the Tem- ple, and in this view the swift bears that character more completely than the other. It is not necessarj' to dilate further on the history of a genus of birds so uni- versallj' known. 2. Hirundo rusfica, or domestica (var. Cdhirica^, the chimney swallow, with a forked tail, marked with a row of white spots, whereof Hiriindo Syriaca, if at all different, is most likely only a variet}\ 3. Chelidon ui-hica, the martin, or commdn window swallow. 4. Cotyle riparia, sand-martin, or shore-bird, not uncommon in Northern Egypt, near the mouths of the Delta, and in Southern Palestine, about Gaza, where it nestles in holes, even on the sea-shore. Besides these, the Eastern or russet swallow (^Hirundo rufula, Tem.), which nestles generally in fissures in rocks, and the crag-martin {Cotyle rupest7-is, Linn.), which is con- fined to mountain gorges and desert districts, are also common. (See Ibis, i, 27 ; ii, 386.) The crag-martin is the only member of the genus which does not migrate from Palestine in winter. Of the genus Cypselus (swift), besides the one first noted above, the splendid alpine swift {Cypselus melba, Linn.) may be seen in all suitable localities. A third species, peculiar, so far as is yet known, to the north-east of Palestine, has recently been described under the name of Cypselus Galileensis. See Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 204 ; Wood, Bible Animals, p. 381 sq. ; Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, p. 206. See Bird.
SWAN
46
SWAN
Swan is the rendering, in tlic A. V., of r"a*i;:ri, //«- shemeth. in two of the three passages where this word occurs, namely, Lev. xi, 18; Deut. xiv, IC, where it stands in the list of tinclean birds (Sept. Trop(pvpiioi', t/3(f ; Vnlg., copyingly, ;)or/)////77'>, (7>/.s' ,• Samaritan the same). Bochart (^llitroz. ii, 'iilO) exjdains it noctua (owl), and derives the name from D'C w, shamdm, " to astonish," because other birds are startled at the appa- rition of the owl. Gescnius suggests the pelican, from B',y3, " to breathe, to puft'," with reference to the infla- tion of its pouch. Whatever may have been the bird intended by JMoses, these conjectures cannot be admit- ted as satisfactory, the owl and pelican being both dis- tinctly expressed elsewhere in the catalogue. Giggeius wavered between these two ; and Dr. JMason Harris, seemingly not better informed, and confounding the American red species with the white one of Africa, guessed that porplnirion must mean the Jlaminf/o. Parkhurst, deriving the word from D">r3, naahdm, "to breathe," was inclined to render tinxhemcth by "goose;" but as this bird is not by the ])resent .Jews deemed un- clean, it may be confidently assumed that no mistake in this matter can have occurred during any period, and consequently that the goose cannot have been marked unclean by the law and afterwards admitted among the clean birds with its name transferred to another species. The Hebrew Dictiinuinj by Selig Newman, it is true, renders tinshemHh "swan;" but the Polyglots show the great uncertainty there is in several of the names of both the chapters in question. The swan, for which some recent scholars contend, asserting that it was held sacred in Egypt, does not occur, so far as has been ascer- tained, in any Egyjitian ancient picture, and is not a bird which, in migrating to the south, even during the cold- est seasons, appears to proceed farther than France or Spain, though, no doubt, individuals may be blown on- ward in hard gales to the African shore. Only two instances of swans have been noticed so far to the south as the sea between Candia and Khorles: one where a traveller mentions his passing through a flock reposing on tlie sea during the night; the other recorded by Hasselquist, who saw one on the coast of Egypt. But it may be conjectured that they mistook pelicans for swans, particularly as the last mentioned are fresh- water birds, and do not readily take to the true salt sea. Mr. Strickland, indeed, says of the mute swan (Ci/r/iws olor), that it visits Smyrna Bay in winter; and Mr. Yarrell, on the authority of Mr. Bennett, tells us that the hooper (C./erus) sometimes goes as far south as Egypt and Barbary. He adds that "they visit Corfu and Sicily in very severe winters; and ]\Ir. Dnnnmond saw a few on the lakes of Biserta, and one in the Lake of Tunis at the end of April, 18i5." But these are very rare instances. Nor, if it had been known to the Israelites, is it easj' to umlerstand why the swan should have been classed among the unclean birds. The renderings of the Sept., porp/u/rio and ihii, :ive either of them more probable. Neither of these birds occurs elsewhere in the catalogue. The porphyrion, or purple gallinule, cannot have been unknown to the translators, as it was, no doubt, common in the Alexandrian temples, and was then, as it is now, seen both in Egypt and Palestine. llop(l>i)pHov, por- phip-io (iiiliqnorum, Bp., the purple water-hen, is men- tioned by Aristotle (//i.<it. Anini. viii, 8), Aristophanes (.1 r. 707), Pliny {llixt. Xat. x, 63), and is more fidly de- scribed by Athena>us ( Dcipn. ix, 388 ). The circum- stance of the same Heb. name being given to the cha- meleon (see below) may have arisen from both having the faculty of changing colors, or being iridescent; the tirst, when angry, becoming green, blue, and purple — col- ors which likewise play constantly on the glossy pans of the second's plumage. The porphyrion is superior in bulk to the common water-hen, or gallinule; has a hard crimson shield on the forehead, and flesh-colored legs; the head, neck, and sides are of a beautiful turquoise