It is a migrant, returning to Palestine in spring. It is the smallest owl in the country, being little more than seven inches in length, with long ear tufts, and its whole plumage most delicately mottled and speckled with grey and light-brown. It has been occasionally killed in Britain, and is well known throughout all Southern Europe, being especially common in Italy.

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(15.) Lilith, SCREECH OWL.'-The only passage in which the word occurs is Isa. xxxiv. 14; where the

prophet, predicting the desolation of Idumea, says, "The screech owl [marg. night-monster'] also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest." The Rabbis say that the 'lilith' is a spectre of the night, which takes the form of a beautiful woman, and carries off children to destroy them-a version, perhaps, of the ghoul of Arabian fables. Michaelis observes that "in the poetical description of desolation we borrow images, even from fables." But if, as seems more reasonable, some existent bird is intended, it must be an owl. We may take any of the species of the country to represent it. Perhaps

it may be allowed to stand for the Hooting or Tawny Owl (Syrnium aluco), which is common in Egypt and inany parts of Palestine, and well known in this country, where its dismal hoot may often be heard in woods, waking the echoes of the night.

We saw many about the Cedars of Lebanon, and, when camping in the forest-country of Gilead in April, we heard its hoot night after night, and found a nest in an oak-tree. The plumage of Syrian specimens is of a much lighter and paler colour than in English birds, but the species is the same.* It is the most strictly nocturnal of all the owls. It is a large species, being seventeen inches in length. Its range extends from Britain to Japan, and from the Arctic Circle to Egypt.

The other owls of the Holy Land are the Indian Fish-owl (Ketupa ceylonensis), and the Long-eared and Short-eared Owls of this country (Strix otus, and Strix brachyotus), but they are not abundant.

In reference to the repeated connection of the Owl with the desolation of Edom in the prophecies, we may quote the following from Irby and Mangles in their description of Petra: "The screaming of eagles, hawks, and owls, which were soaring above our heads in considerable numbers, seemingly annoyed at any one approaching their lonely habitation, added much to the singularity of the scene."

*The larger proportion of tawny specimens in British collections beyond those from less game-preserved countries, probably arises from most of the English owls being killed before they have lived long enough to acquire the very adult grey plumage. A similar phenomenon may be observed (no doubt from the same cause) in male specimens of the Marsh Harrier.

CHAPTER VIII.

BIRDS. PART II.

RAVEN, 'oreb.-The Raven is the first bird specified by name in the Bible.

When the waters of the flood

began to decrease, Noah "sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro [Heb. in going forth and returning]), until the waters were dried up from off the earth (Gen. viii. 7), ie., the Raven kept going and returning to the ark, resting on it, but not entering into it again, and finding its food in the floating carcases. No other bird was so well adapted to obtain its subsistence amidst the scene of desolation: and the fact that it did not re

turn into the ark, would afford Noah a sign that the first stage of the subsidence of the waters was accomplished.

Under the term 'raven,' is included the whole family of the Crow tribe: crows, rooks, jackdaws, &c. (all very numerous in eastern countries), in the prohibition of Lev. xi. 15; Deut. xiv. 14, where "every raven after his kind," ie., all the species of crows, are forbidden as food. They are naturally esteemed unclean, as most of them feed principally or largely on carrion. The carnivorous propensities of the Raven, and especially its habit of attacking weak or sickly animals, and of always commencing by picking out the eyes, is alluded to in Prov. xxx. 17: "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley [Heb. ravine] shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." "We have more than once seen the ravens thus attack a newly-dropped kid. The expression "the ravens of the valley (ravine)" aptly describes. its favourite resorts; for, far as it roams for food during the day, its home is generally in some of the deep rocky glens or gorges with which l'alestine abounds, and where it rears its young in security.

Its presence is thus taken as an illustration of the coming desolation of Edom. "The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it" (Isa. xxxiv. 11).

The Hebrew name of the Raven, 'oreb, is from a root signifying to be black, and in Cant. v. 11, his dark, glossy plumage furnishes an image of the locks of the beloved: His locks are bushy, and black as a raven."

The Raven is repeatedly cited as manifesting the goodness and care of God for His lower creatures. Not only is its home in desolate places, but its food is scanty and precarious, and must be sought out over a wide extent of country, as may be seen by its habit of flying restlessly about in constant search of food. "Who provideth the raven his food? When his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat," the Lord inquires of Job (ch. xxxviii. 41). And the Psalmist re marks, "He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry" (Ps. cxlvii. 9). Our Lord also sets forth God's providential care in the provision made for the Raven: " Consider the ravens : for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn;

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and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?" (Luke xii. 24). The stories that the Raven turns its young out of the nest at so early a period that they are unable to provide for themselves, is entirely without foundation, for no bird is more careful of its offspring, till they are able to leave the nest. The notion is quite needless for the explanation of the illustration of God's care, but may have arisen from the fact that generally the young leave the neighbourhood of the parents very soon after they are full grown.

The account of the sustenance of Elijah by ravens, when in concealment by the brook Cherith, as related in 1 Kings xvii. 3-6, has given rise to much fanciful speculation. "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So . . . the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening." Some have suggested Arabs, called Orebim, others that Elijah subsisted on the animals of which he plundered the ravens' nests. But "the text knows nothing of bird catching and nest robbing, but acknowledges the Lord and Creator of the creatures, who commanded the ravens to provide His servant with bread and flesh."-Keil, as quoted in Bib. Dict., Art. RAVEN.

Of the Raven after his kind,' there are eight species found in Palestine: The Common Raven (Corvus corax), the Brown-necked Raven (C. umbrinus), the Square-tailed Raven (C. affinis), the Hooded Crow (C. cornix), a Rook (C. agricola), the Jackdaw (C. monedula and C. collaris), and the Alpine Chough on Lebanon and Hermon (Pyrrhocorax alpinus). The Carrion Crow and Red-legged Chough have not yet been noticed there. In no country are the species more numerous in individuals.

Of all the birds of Jerusalem, the Raven tribe are the most characteristic and conspicuous, though the larger species is quite outnumbered by its smaller companion, Corvus umbrinus. They are present everywhere to eye and ear, and the odours that float around remind us of their use. The discordant jabber of their evening sittings round the temple area is deafening. The caw of the Rook and the chatter of the Jackdaw unite in attempting to drown the hoarse croak of the old Raven, but clear above the tumult rings out the more musical call-note of hundreds of the lesser species. We used to watch this great colony as, every morning at day-break, they passed in