kiel (ch. i. 10), as also in that of St. John, to whom. from his keen insight into heavenly truths, and his near approach to the brightness of the divine glory in the revelation vouchsafed to him, this bird has been assigned as an emblem.

Lastly, its care for its young is twice seized upon as an illustration of God's fatherly care over his people. "As an eagle (nesher) stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him" (Deut. xxxii. 11, 12).* “Ye have seen... how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself" (Ex. xix. 4). The pains which all birds of prey take in encouraging their young ones to fly, and in coaxing them to leave the nest, is well known to all who have observed them. The account given by Sir H. Davy of his watching a pair of golden eagles thus occupied has been often quoted. "I once saw a very interesting sight above the crags of Ben Nevis. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the manoeuvres of flight. They began by rising from the top of the mountain, in the eye of the sun. It was about mid-day, and bright for the climate. They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their fight, and then took a second and larger gyration, always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight, so as to make a gradually ascending spiral. The young ones still and slowly followed, apparently flying better as they mounted; and they continued this sublime exercise, always rising, till they became mere points in the air, and the young ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to our aching sight."

The number of griffons in every part of Palestine is amazing, and they are found at all seasons of the year. I do not think I ever surveyed a landscape without its being enlivened by the circling of a party of griffons Many colonies of eyries came under our observation in the gorge of the Wady Kelt, near Jericho (by somė supposed to be the Cherith): in the cliffs near Heshbon,

* It is, perhaps, worthy of remark in connection with this expression in the writings of Moses, who had studied Egyptian learning, that the Griffon appears to have been sacred in ancient Egypt to Maut, the goddess of Maternity.

under Mount Nebo; in the ravine of the Jabbok; in a gorge near Rabbath Ammon; in the gorge of the Litany River. Two large colonies inhabit ravines on the north and east of Mount Carmel; but the most populous of all were the 'griffonries' in the stupendous cliffs of the Wady Hamam, the robbers' caves,' and in the dep glen of the Wady Leimun, opening on to the Plain of Gennesaret. In either of these sublime gorges the everberating echoes of a single rifle would bring forth griffons by the hundred from their recesses. I counted, on one occasion, 120 thus roused, and then gave up the reckoning in despair. Few ravines can surpass in grandeur these gorges (the Beth-Arbel of Hos. x. 14), though they are wholly without the setting of mountain scenery. Wady Hamam is celebrated in Jewish history as the stronghold of a powerful band of robbers and rebels, who for years set at defiance all the power of Herod and the Romans. On either side the cliffs rise to a height of more than 800 feet, perforated and honeycombed by a multitude of caverns, holes, and narrow passages, with broken galleries and arches almost suspended in mid-air, with their basements worn away by the action of time on the soft limestone. From the days of Titus to the present these caverns have remained the undisturbed home of the griffons, which have appropriated galleries and chambers, whether inner or outer, to their domestic purposes, more secure than the Edomites, who set their nests in the rock; while even the shepherds of the neighbourhood have a superstitions dread of investigating them.

Like

The griffons were in the habit of soaring high, and sweeping the horizon about daybreak; then in about two hours they would return, and either betake themselves to the duties of incubation, or perch motionless in long rows on the most conspicuous ledges and points of the precipices until the evening; they would then take a little airy exercise before retiring to rest. all other camion feeders, they must have the power of enduring prolonged abstinence, for it was utterly impossible that the neighbourhood of Gennesaret could afford sustenance to the 500 birds-on the lowest computation-which inhabited the valleys close to it; yet, so far as we could observe, for many days neither the sitting birds nor their mates ever left the wadys for

more than an hour or two. Nor were they first in the field for what little carrion our immediate neighbourhood afforded. The wolves and jackals generally came in for the lion's share of the feast whenever a horse or a cow died near our camp, a very frequent occurrence. Their enormous capacity for food, combined with the power of long abstinence, is a wonderful provision of creative wisdom for carrion feeders, whose supply is so uncertain, while the necessity for the immediate removal of offensive matter is so urgent.

On a subsequent occasion, on the north side of Hermon, we observed the griffons teaching a lesson of patience to the inferior scavengers. A long row of Egyptian vultures were sitting on some rocks, so intently watching a spot in a cornfield, that they took no notice of our approach. Creeping cautiously near, we watched a score of griffons busily engaged in turning over a dead horse, one side of which they had already reduced to a skeleton. Their united efforts had just effected this when we showed ourselves, and they quickly retired. The inferior birds, who dreaded us much less than them, at once darted to the repast, and, utterly regardless of our presence within ten yards of them, began to gorge. We had hardly retired 200 yards when the griffons came down with a swoop, and the Egyptian vultures, and a pair or two of eagles, hurriedly resumed their posts of observation; while some black kites remained, and contrived, by their superior agility, to filch a few morsels from their lordly superiors.

The Griffon is by no means an unamiable or disgusting bird. He is certainly cleanly in his habits, docile, and of remarkable intelligence. With his fellows he is goodtempered, and, voracious as he is, never grudges to share the feast with as many as choose to join him. There is none of the snarling or quarrelling of the canine tribe, nor any attempt to rob a weaker cousin of his portion. or to devour a savoury morsel in secret; but each of the company amicably keeps his place, without attempting to eject his neighbour. They are easily tamed, and we brought up two from the nest, which were reared, and arrived safely in England.

The Griffon is found in all the warmer parts of the Old World, from the Himalaya to Spain and Morocco. and throughout Africa to the Cape of Good Hope. It

measures about 4 feet 8 inches in length, and 8 feet in expanse of wing. The nest is sometimes large, but frequently scanty, formed of sticks and turf, and it lays one egg in February or March. Its plumage is an uniform brown, with a fine ruff of whitish down round the lower part of its neck, at the termination of the bare portion. Its beak is hooked and of great power, but its claws and feet are much weaker than those of the Eagle, and are not adapted for killing prey.

(4.) Racham, GIER-EAGLE' (Lev. xi. 18; Deut. xiv. 17. The name does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. It is identical with the Arabic vernacular Rachmah, the Egyptian Vulture, or Pharaoh's Hen-Neophron per

This bird extends to the Cape of Good Hope. The Indian race, though differing very slightly, appears to be distinct from the Western form.

cnopterus of naturalists-a well known and very common bird in all the warmer parts of the Old World, from the Pyrenees to Southern India, and, through all Africa. It is a true scavenger, an eater not only of carrion, but of every kind of filth, offal, and garbage, and, though elegant in plumage and appearance on the wing, is most disgusting not only in habits, but in odour and appearance on a close inspection. Yet it is most highly valued for its useful habits in ridding the slovenly inhabitants of the putrid carcases and decaying matter which would otherwise breed a pestilence in their towns, and is rigorously protected. Its long, feeble, and but slightly curved bill, and its weak feet and claws, separate it widely both from the Griffon, Eagle, and all other birds of prey, with which it is never classed or confused by the Easterns.

Although often seen sailing under the griffons, it seems conscious of its inferiority, and never consorts with them, always deferentially making way as they approach. It lives in pairs, only congregating over its food, nor does it ever breed in colonies, and seldom are two nests found together. These, though always in the cliffs, are generally low down, and comparatively easy of access. The nest is an enormous collection of sticks, clods of turf, bullocks' ribs, pieces of sheepskin, old rags, and whatever else the neighbourhood of a camp or village may afford. The eggs are two, very rarely three in number, and are of a rich red colour, or mottled with red.

It is in the Holy Land a migratory bird, never seen in winter, but scattered over every part of the country in spring, so that one cannot travel a mile or two in any part without putting up a pair, which quietly rise and sweep past the traveller, their black wings finely contrasting with the white plumage of the rest of their body. It is familiar in the neighbourhood of man, and fearlessly resorts to the dung-hills of the villages to feed. The young bird, until it is two years old, is of an uniform sooty brown colour, and in this plumage it has been killed in England. The length of the Egyptian Vulture is a little more than two feet. Its Hebrew name is derived from a root signifying to love, probably from the male and female never parting company.