(5.) Dayah, 'VULTURE.'-So translated in Lev. xi. 14; Deut. xiv. 13; and in Isa. xxxiv. 15. “There shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate." In Job (xxviii. 7) another word, Ayah, is rendered Vulture, which is elsewhere more correctly expressed by Kite. There is no doubt that dayah' properly means not what we understand by Vulture,' but some of the smaller birds of prey, as the kites; and possibly including the buzzards, both of them formerly familiar and well known birds in the English landscape, but now almost extinct in this country, and only existing in very small numbers in some of the remotest and wildest nooks of the island.

The Hebrew 'dayah' is evidently the same as the Arabic 'h'dayah,' the vernacular for the Kite, and when used without the epithet red,' commonly confined to the Black Kite, Milvus migrans of naturalists. The habits of the bird bear out the allusion in Isa. xxxiv. 15, for it is, excepting during the winter three months, so numerous everywhere in Palestine as to be almost gregarious. It returns about the beginning of March, and scatters itself over the whole country, preferring especially the neighbourhood of villages, where it is a welcome and unmolested guest. It does not appear to attack the poultry, among whom it may often be seen feeding on garbage. It is very sociable; and the slaughter of a sheep near the tents will soon attract a large party of black kites, which swoop down regardless of man and guns, and enjoy a noisy scramble for the refuse, chasing each other in a laughable fashion, and sometimes enabling the wily Raven to steal off with the coveted morsel during their contention. It is the butt of all the smaller scavengers, and is evidently most unpopular with the crows and daws, and even with the rollers, who enjoy the amusement of teasing it in their tumbling flight, which is a manœuvre most perplexing to the Kite.

It is careless in the selection of a spot for its nest, generally selecting a tree, often in a glen, sometimes the roots of a shrub growing out of a cliff, and frequently a mere ledge in the rocks. The nest itself is a grotesque, untidy structure, composed principally of sticks, with a lining of rags and wool, decorated with old pieces of cloth of various colours, the cast-off skins

of serpents, strips of bark, wings of fowls, and such like, hung about it, and on the branches near it, as if to attract observation. It lays two or three eggs. It is a plain coloured bird, with uniform blackish-brown plumage on the back, and tawny underneath, and with a long tail, not so forked as that of the Red or so called Common Kite. Its length is about twenty-one inches. Its fearless and familiar manner and graceful flight render it a very interesting bird to watch. There is another closelyallied species, the Egyptian Kite (Milvus ægyptius), very like it, but rather lighter in plumage, with the bill whitish instead of black, which is not unfrequent in Palestine, and is not distinguished by the Arabs.

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(6.) 'Asniyeh, OSPREY.-This word occurs only twice -in Lev. xi. 13, and Deut. xiv. 12-among the list of unclean birds. Many commentators and the old versions support the translation of Osprey,' the Fish-eating Eagle (Pandion haliaëtus), but some have suggested the SeaEagle (Hali retus albicilla). The latter is out of the question, because it very rarely wanders to the coasts of

Syria, though it breeds occasionally in Lower Egypt. The Osprey, however, is found there constantly, but in smalı numbers. It could never, however, have been plentiful, as its food consists exclusively of fish, and the supply of these is limited to a few districts of the Holy Land, while the rivers near the coast, and the rocky parts of the shore, are the only localities adapted to its habits, the Jordan valley and the Sea of Galilee being avoided by this cosmo

politan bird, whose home is alike the lakes and tarns of Northern Europe, the coasts of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North America, and which nests on the shores of the Red Sea.

Yet our translators were doubtless correct in assigning to the Hebrew 'Asniyeh, the Osprey, as the closest in size and appearance to the lesser eagles, for which most

probably it stands. The Hebrews would have called the Osprey 'Asniyeh; yet, if the term be more than a generic one, we must apply it especially to the SHORTTOED EAGLE (Circaëtus gallicus of Southern Europe), a fine and majestic bird in its flight; by far the most abundant of all the Eagle tribe in Palestine, and very much of the size and appearance of the Osprey. It is more than two feet long, and is very large and heavy in shape. The upper plumage is light brown, and the lower white with dark crescent-shaped spots. The eyes are very large and owl-like, and the feet and toes curiously covered with the reticulated scales, a sort of chain-armour, most invaluable doubtless in protecting it against the bite of serpents, which are its common food.

It is by preference a reptile feeder, and consequently is more scarce in winter, when it probably withdraws into the Arabian deserts for the two or three months during which the snakes and lizards hybernate in the colder region of Palestine. It remains, however, on the coast and plains, where there are abundance of frogs to be had at all seasons. I do not know a more magnificent-looking bird, as it sits with its great flat head bent down on its shoulders, its huge yellow eyes glaring around, and the bright spotting of its breast and abdomen as distinct as that of a missel-thrush. It is very noisy, and always betrays the neighbourhood of its nest by the loud harsh scream with which the male and female pursue each other, rising into the air and making short circling flights, after which they suddenly drop down, one to the nest, the other to a neighbouring post of observation. They will often dash down from the cliffs to the fields below, sweep for a few minutes like a harrier, and then, seizing a snake, sit down and occupy some minutes in killing the reptile, after which they carry the prize away in their claws, not, like most other eagles, devouring it on the spot. The nest is upon rocks or in trees, and it rears one, rarely two, young.

There are several other species of Eagle in the Holy Land, which are doubtless included under the term asniyeh. These are the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaëtus), identical with the well known Golden Eagle of Scotland, but which is not very common in Palestine, being found chiefly in the northern mountain districts. The Imperial

Eagle (Aquila mogilnik), rather more common than the last. a very noble bird, fearless and solitary, which may at once be recognised by its dark plumage and white shoulders. Three other eagles also are tolerably common, but nowhere in great numbers together the Tawny Eagle

(Aquila navioides), the Spotted Eagle (Aquila nævia), and the Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata). Probably there are twice as many of the Short-toed Eagle in Palestine as of all the other species together. All these eagles eat carrion, though when hard pressed they will, unlike the vultures, kill their own food. Bonelli's Eagle constantly does this, and attacks game and pigeons. There