Vulture
VIEW:24 DATA:01-04-2020
VULTURE.1. dââh, Lev_11:14, dayyâh or dayyôth, Deu_14:13 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ; in both passages RV [Note: Revised Version.] has kite. 2. ayyâh, Job_28:7 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ; RV [Note: Revised Version.] falcon. These words certainly refer to some of the smaller birds of prey: the larger vultures are included in nesher, for which see Eagle.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
'ayah (the red kite famed for sharp sight: Job_28:7); daah (GLEDE or black kite: Lev_11:14; Deu_14:13 raah); dayah, the Vulturidae; the words "after his kind" mark more than one species. Vultures differ from eagles and falcons by having the head and neck borer of feathers, the eyes not so sunk, the beak longer, curved only at the end. Cowardly; preferring carrion to other food; rarely killing their prey, unless it is feeble.
The griffon of the Vulturidae is noted for seeing its prey from the greatest height. Though previously scarcely known in the Crimea, during the Anglo-Russian war they remained near the camp throughout the campaign; "wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together" (Mat_24:28; Job_39:30). Besides the griffon, the lammergever and the Egyptian vulture, "Pharaoh's hens," are found in Palestine.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Vulture. The rendering in the Authorized Version of the Hebrew, daah, dayyah, and also in Job_28:7 of ayyah. There seems no doubt that the Authorized Versions translation is incorrect, and that the original words refer to some of the smaller species of raptorial birds, as kites or buzzards. See Kite. But the Hebrew word, nesher, invariably rendered "eagle" in the Authorized Version, is probably the vulture. See Eagle.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
דאה and ראה , Lev_11:14; Isa_34:15; a large bird of prey, somewhat resembling the eagle. There are several birds of the vulturine kind, which, though they differ much in respect to colour and dimensions, yet are all easily distinguished by their naked heads, and beaks partly straight and partly crooked. They are frequent in Arabia, Egypt, and many parts of Africa and Asia. They have a most indelicate voracity, preying more upon carrion than live animals. They were declared unclean in the Levitical constitution.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
vul?t̬ū́r (דּאה, dā'āh; Septuagint γύψ, gúps, and ἴκτινος, ı́ktinos; Latin Vulturidae): Any member of a family of large birds that subsist wholly or in part on carrion. The largest vulture of Palestine was the Lammer-geier. This bird waited until smaller vultures, eagles and hawks stripped a carcass to the bone, then carried the skeleton aloft and dashed it on the rocks until the marrow could be secured. This was a favorite delicacy. This bird was fond of tortoise also, and is said to have dropped the one that struck the bald head of Aeschylus, which the bird mistook for a stone, so causing the death of the poet. Several smaller species, including ?Pharaoh's chickens,? flocked all over Palestine. These were protected by a death penalty for their value as scavengers in cities. They fed on carcasses of animals that killed each other, ate putrid fish under the nests of pelican and cormorant, followed caravans across the desert, and were ready for offal thrown from animals dressed for feasting. They flocked over the altars for the entrails from sacrifice, and devoured scraps cast aside by tent-dwellers and residents of cities. They paired with affectionate courting and nested in crevices, in walls, hollow trees and on cliffs. They raised only one pair of young to the season, as the nestlings were over two months old before they took wing. The young were white at first, then black feathers enveloped them. On account of their steady diet of carrion, no one ever has been able to use their flesh for food, although some daring ornithologists have tried. For this reason the vulture was placed among the abominations and should by right have headed the lists (Lev_11:18; Deu_14:13). The other references that used to be translated ?vulture? in the King James Version, the Septuagint ἔλαφος, élaphos, Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) correctly milous) are changed to ?falcon? and ?kite.? Isa_34:15 changes ?vulture? to ?kite.? Job_28:7 changes ?vulture? to ?falcon.?
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Fig. 339?Vultur percnopterus
An unclean bird (Lev_11:14). The species of vulture, properly so called, have the head naked or downy, the crop external, and very long wings; they have all an offensive smell, and we know of none that even the scavenger-ants will eat. When dead they lie on the ground untouched till the sun has dried them into mummies. Those found in and about the Egyptian territory are Vultur fulvus, V. gyps (Savigny), V. ?gyptius (Savigny), V. monachus (Arabian vulture), V. cinereus, V. Nubicus, and a black species, which is often figured on Egyptian monuments as the bird of victory, hovering over the head of a national hero in battle, and sometimes with a banner in each talon. It is perhaps the gypaetus barbatus (peres), or lammer geyer; for though neither a vulture nor an eagle, it is the largest bird of prey of the old continent, and is armed like the eagle with formidable claws. The head is wholly feathered; its courage is equal to its powers, and it has a strength of wing probably superior to all raptorians, excepting the condor. It is found with little or no difference from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Pyrenees to Japan. Most of the above-named species are occasionally seen in the north of Europe. The voice varies in different species, but those of Egypt, frequenting the Pyramids, are known to bark in the night like dogs. Excepting the carrion vultures, all the other species are of large size; some superior in bulk to the swan, and others a little less.
There can be no doubt that the White Carrion Vulture (Vultur percnopterus) is the bird called in Hebrew (as it still is in Arabic) Racham, rendered Gier-eagle in Lev_11:18; Deu_14:17. It forms a small group of Vulturidae, subgenerically distinguished by the name of Percnopterus and Neophron, differing from the other vultures in the bill being longer, straight, more attenuated, and then uncinated, and in the back of the head and neck being furnished with longish, narrow, suberectile feathers. In size the species is little bulkier than a raven, but it stands high on the legs. Always soiled with blood and garbage, offensive to the eye and nose, it yet is protected in Egypt both by law and public opinion for the services it renders in clearing the soil of dead carcasses putrefying in the sun, and the cultivated fields of innumerable rats, mice, and other vermin. It extends to Palestine in the summer season, but becomes scarce towards the north, where it is not specially protected; and it accompanies caravans, feasting on their leavings and on dead camels, etc.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Isa_34:15 (b) This bird is a type of the voracious, hungry nations who are to come down on Idumea, and devour her assets.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
is the rendering, in the A.V., of two Heb. words: 1. דָּאָה, daóh (only in Lev_11:14; Sept. γύψ; Vulg. milvus; the parallel passage, Deu_14:13, has in the corresponding position רָאָה, raah, which may be an erroneous transcription; Sept. γύψ; Vulg. ixion; A. V. glede), or דִּיָּה, dayah (only Deu_14:13, ἴκτιν; milvus; Isaiah 34:34, ἔλαφος; milvus); and 2. אִיָּה, aycth (only in Job_28:7, γὔψ; vultur; Lev_11:14, ἴκτιν; vultur; A. V. kite; Deu_14:13, Sept. omits; Vulg. milvus; A. V. kite).
I. There seems to be no doubt that the A. V. translation is incorrect, and that the original words refer to some of the smaller species of raptorial birds, as kites or buzzards. דִּיָּה(daydh) is evidently synonymous with Arab. h'ayah, the vernacular for the kite in North Africa, and without the epithet red for the black kite especially. Bochart (Hieroz. 2, 195) explains it Vut turniger. The Samaritan and all other Eastern versions agree in rendering it kite. אִיּהָ(ayah) is yet more certainly referable to this bird, which, in other passages, it is taken to represent. Bochart (ibid. 2, 193) says it is the same bird which the Arabs call yanya from its cry; but does not state what species this is, supposing it, apparently, to be the magpie, the Arab name for which, however, is el-agaag.
There are two very different species of bird comprised under the English term vulture: the griffon (Gypsfulvus, Sav.), Arab. nesr; Heb. נֶשֶׁר, nasher; invariably rendered eagle in the A. V.; and the peranopter, or Egyptian vulture (Neophron peranopferus, Sav.), Arab. rakhma; Heb. רָחָ ם, racham; rendered gier-eagle in the A. V. The identity of the Hebrew and Arabic terms in these cases can scarcely be questioned. However degrading the substitution of the ignoble vulture for the royal eagle may at first sight appear in many passages, it must be borne in mind that the griffon is in all its movements and characteristics a majestic and royal bird, the largest and most powerful which is seen on the wing in Palestine, and far surpassing the eagle in size and power. Its only rival in these respects is the bearded vulture, or Lammergeyer, a more uncommon bird everywhere, and which, since it is not, like the griffon, bald on the head and neck, cannot be referred to as nesher (see Mic_1:16). Very different is the slovenly and cowardly Egyptian vulture (Neophron peranopterus), the familiar scavenger of all Oriental towns and villages, protected for its useful habits, but loathed and despised, till its name has become a term of reproach, like that of the dog or the swine. The species of vulture, properly so called, have the head naked or downy, the crop external, and very long wings; they all have an offensive smell, and we know of none that even the scavenger-ants will eat. When dead they lie on the ground untouched till the sun has dried them into mummies. Late Western commentators, anxious to distinguish eagles from vultures, have assumed that the first- mentioned never feed on carcasses; and, judging the whole family of vultures by the group of carrion-eaters alone, have insinuated that the latter do not attack a living prey. In both cases they are in error; with some exceptions, eagles follow armies, though not so abundantly as vultures; and vultures attack living prey provided with small means of defense or of little weight; but their talons having no means of grasping with energy, or of seriously wounding with the claws, they devour their prey On the spot, while the eagle carries it aloft, and thence is more liable to be stung by a serpent not entirely disabled than the vulture, who crushes the head of all reptiles it preys upon. SEE EAGLE.
If we take the Heb. ayah to refer to the red kite (Milvus regulis, Temm.), and dayoh to the black kite (Milvus ater, Temm.), we shall find the piercing sight of the former referred to by Job (Job_28:7), and the gregarious habits of the latter by Isaiah (Isa_34:15). Both species are inhabitants of Palestine, the red kite being found all over the country, as formerly in England, but nowhere in great numbers, generally soaring at a great height over the plains, according to Dr. Roth, and apparently leaving the country in winter. The black kite, which is so numerous everywhere as to be gregarious, may be seen at all times of the year hovering over the villages and the outskirts of towns, on the lookout for offal and garbage, which are its favorite food; Vulture-like, it seldom, unless pressed by hunger, attacks living animals. It is therefore never molested by the natives and builds its nest on trees in their neighborhood, fantastically decorating it with as many rags of colored cloth as it can collect. SEE GLEDE.
II. There are three species of so-called vulture known to inhabit Palestine:
1. The Lammergeyer (Gypaetos barbatus, Cuv.), which is rare everywhere, and only found in desolate mountain regions, where it, rears its young in the depth of winter among inaccessible precipices. It is looked upon by the Arabs as an eagle rather than a vulture; for, though properly neither a vulture nor an eagle, it is the largest bird of prey of the old continent, and is armed, like the eagle, with formidable claws. The head is wholly feathered; its courage is equal to its powers; and it has a strength of wing probably superior to all raptorians, excepting the condor. It is consequently found, with little or no difference, from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Pyrenees to Japan. This is perhaps the black species, which is often figured on Egyptian monuments as the bird of victory, hovering over the head of a national hero in battle, and sometimes with a banner in each talon. SEE OSSIFRAGE.
2. The Griffon (Gyps fluvus, Sav.), mentioned above, remarkable for its power of vision and the great height at which it soars. Aristotle (Anim. Hist. 6:5) notices the manner in which the griffon scents its prey from afar, and congregates in the wake of an army. The same singular instinct was remarked in the Russian war, when vast numbers of this vulture were collected in the Crimea, and remained till the end of the campaign in the neighborhood of the camp, although previously they had been scarcely known in the country. Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together (Mat_24:28); Where the slain are, there is she (Job_39:30). Travelers have observed this bird universally distributed in all the mountainous and rocky districts of Palestine, and especially abundant in the south-east. Its favorite breeding places are between Jerusalem and Jericho, and all round the Dead Sea.
3. The third species is the above Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus, Sav.), often called Pharaoh's hen, observed in Palestine by Hasselquist and all subsequent travelers, and very numerous everywhere.
Two other species of very large size, the eared and cinereous vultures (Vultur nubicus. Smith, and Vultur. cinereus, L.) although inhabitants of the neighboring countries, and probably also of the south-east of Palestine, have not yet been noted in collections from that country.
Most of the above named species are occasionally seen in the north of Europe. The voice varies in different species; but those of Egypt, frequenting the Pyramids, are known to bark in the night like dogs. Excepting the peranopteirine (or carrion) vultures, all the other species are of large size; some superior in bulk to the swan, and others a little less. The Nubian species has been figured in Kitto's Palestine; the fulvus in Harris's Dict. of the Nat. Hist. of the Bible. See also Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 173 sq.; Wood, Bible Animals, p. 340 sq. SEE KITE.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
'ayah (the red kite famed for sharp sight: Job_28:7); daah (GLEDE or black kite: Lev_11:14; Deu_14:13 raah); dayah, the Vulturidae; the words "after his kind" mark more than one species. Vultures differ from eagles and falcons by having the head and neck borer of feathers, the eyes not so sunk, the beak longer, curved only at the end. Cowardly; preferring carrion to other food; rarely killing their prey, unless it is feeble.
The griffon of the Vulturidae is noted for seeing its prey from the greatest height. Though previously scarcely known in the Crimea, during the Anglo-Russian war they remained near the camp throughout the campaign; "wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together" (Mat_24:28; Job_39:30). Besides the griffon, the lammergever and the Egyptian vulture, "Pharaoh's hens," are found in Palestine.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Vulture. The rendering in the Authorized Version of the Hebrew, daah, dayyah, and also in Job_28:7 of ayyah. There seems no doubt that the Authorized Versions translation is incorrect, and that the original words refer to some of the smaller species of raptorial birds, as kites or buzzards. See Kite. But the Hebrew word, nesher, invariably rendered "eagle" in the Authorized Version, is probably the vulture. See Eagle.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
דאה and ראה , Lev_11:14; Isa_34:15; a large bird of prey, somewhat resembling the eagle. There are several birds of the vulturine kind, which, though they differ much in respect to colour and dimensions, yet are all easily distinguished by their naked heads, and beaks partly straight and partly crooked. They are frequent in Arabia, Egypt, and many parts of Africa and Asia. They have a most indelicate voracity, preying more upon carrion than live animals. They were declared unclean in the Levitical constitution.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
vul?t̬ū́r (דּאה, dā'āh; Septuagint γύψ, gúps, and ἴκτινος, ı́ktinos; Latin Vulturidae): Any member of a family of large birds that subsist wholly or in part on carrion. The largest vulture of Palestine was the Lammer-geier. This bird waited until smaller vultures, eagles and hawks stripped a carcass to the bone, then carried the skeleton aloft and dashed it on the rocks until the marrow could be secured. This was a favorite delicacy. This bird was fond of tortoise also, and is said to have dropped the one that struck the bald head of Aeschylus, which the bird mistook for a stone, so causing the death of the poet. Several smaller species, including ?Pharaoh's chickens,? flocked all over Palestine. These were protected by a death penalty for their value as scavengers in cities. They fed on carcasses of animals that killed each other, ate putrid fish under the nests of pelican and cormorant, followed caravans across the desert, and were ready for offal thrown from animals dressed for feasting. They flocked over the altars for the entrails from sacrifice, and devoured scraps cast aside by tent-dwellers and residents of cities. They paired with affectionate courting and nested in crevices, in walls, hollow trees and on cliffs. They raised only one pair of young to the season, as the nestlings were over two months old before they took wing. The young were white at first, then black feathers enveloped them. On account of their steady diet of carrion, no one ever has been able to use their flesh for food, although some daring ornithologists have tried. For this reason the vulture was placed among the abominations and should by right have headed the lists (Lev_11:18; Deu_14:13). The other references that used to be translated ?vulture? in the King James Version, the Septuagint ἔλαφος, élaphos, Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) correctly milous) are changed to ?falcon? and ?kite.? Isa_34:15 changes ?vulture? to ?kite.? Job_28:7 changes ?vulture? to ?falcon.?
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Fig. 339?Vultur percnopterus
An unclean bird (Lev_11:14). The species of vulture, properly so called, have the head naked or downy, the crop external, and very long wings; they have all an offensive smell, and we know of none that even the scavenger-ants will eat. When dead they lie on the ground untouched till the sun has dried them into mummies. Those found in and about the Egyptian territory are Vultur fulvus, V. gyps (Savigny), V. ?gyptius (Savigny), V. monachus (Arabian vulture), V. cinereus, V. Nubicus, and a black species, which is often figured on Egyptian monuments as the bird of victory, hovering over the head of a national hero in battle, and sometimes with a banner in each talon. It is perhaps the gypaetus barbatus (peres), or lammer geyer; for though neither a vulture nor an eagle, it is the largest bird of prey of the old continent, and is armed like the eagle with formidable claws. The head is wholly feathered; its courage is equal to its powers, and it has a strength of wing probably superior to all raptorians, excepting the condor. It is found with little or no difference from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Pyrenees to Japan. Most of the above-named species are occasionally seen in the north of Europe. The voice varies in different species, but those of Egypt, frequenting the Pyramids, are known to bark in the night like dogs. Excepting the carrion vultures, all the other species are of large size; some superior in bulk to the swan, and others a little less.
There can be no doubt that the White Carrion Vulture (Vultur percnopterus) is the bird called in Hebrew (as it still is in Arabic) Racham, rendered Gier-eagle in Lev_11:18; Deu_14:17. It forms a small group of Vulturidae, subgenerically distinguished by the name of Percnopterus and Neophron, differing from the other vultures in the bill being longer, straight, more attenuated, and then uncinated, and in the back of the head and neck being furnished with longish, narrow, suberectile feathers. In size the species is little bulkier than a raven, but it stands high on the legs. Always soiled with blood and garbage, offensive to the eye and nose, it yet is protected in Egypt both by law and public opinion for the services it renders in clearing the soil of dead carcasses putrefying in the sun, and the cultivated fields of innumerable rats, mice, and other vermin. It extends to Palestine in the summer season, but becomes scarce towards the north, where it is not specially protected; and it accompanies caravans, feasting on their leavings and on dead camels, etc.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Isa_34:15 (b) This bird is a type of the voracious, hungry nations who are to come down on Idumea, and devour her assets.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
is the rendering, in the A.V., of two Heb. words: 1. דָּאָה, daóh (only in Lev_11:14; Sept. γύψ; Vulg. milvus; the parallel passage, Deu_14:13, has in the corresponding position רָאָה, raah, which may be an erroneous transcription; Sept. γύψ; Vulg. ixion; A. V. glede), or דִּיָּה, dayah (only Deu_14:13, ἴκτιν; milvus; Isaiah 34:34, ἔλαφος; milvus); and 2. אִיָּה, aycth (only in Job_28:7, γὔψ; vultur; Lev_11:14, ἴκτιν; vultur; A. V. kite; Deu_14:13, Sept. omits; Vulg. milvus; A. V. kite).
I. There seems to be no doubt that the A. V. translation is incorrect, and that the original words refer to some of the smaller species of raptorial birds, as kites or buzzards. דִּיָּה(daydh) is evidently synonymous with Arab. h'ayah, the vernacular for the kite in North Africa, and without the epithet red for the black kite especially. Bochart (Hieroz. 2, 195) explains it Vut turniger. The Samaritan and all other Eastern versions agree in rendering it kite. אִיּהָ(ayah) is yet more certainly referable to this bird, which, in other passages, it is taken to represent. Bochart (ibid. 2, 193) says it is the same bird which the Arabs call yanya from its cry; but does not state what species this is, supposing it, apparently, to be the magpie, the Arab name for which, however, is el-agaag.
There are two very different species of bird comprised under the English term vulture: the griffon (Gypsfulvus, Sav.), Arab. nesr; Heb. נֶשֶׁר, nasher; invariably rendered eagle in the A. V.; and the peranopter, or Egyptian vulture (Neophron peranopferus, Sav.), Arab. rakhma; Heb. רָחָ ם, racham; rendered gier-eagle in the A. V. The identity of the Hebrew and Arabic terms in these cases can scarcely be questioned. However degrading the substitution of the ignoble vulture for the royal eagle may at first sight appear in many passages, it must be borne in mind that the griffon is in all its movements and characteristics a majestic and royal bird, the largest and most powerful which is seen on the wing in Palestine, and far surpassing the eagle in size and power. Its only rival in these respects is the bearded vulture, or Lammergeyer, a more uncommon bird everywhere, and which, since it is not, like the griffon, bald on the head and neck, cannot be referred to as nesher (see Mic_1:16). Very different is the slovenly and cowardly Egyptian vulture (Neophron peranopterus), the familiar scavenger of all Oriental towns and villages, protected for its useful habits, but loathed and despised, till its name has become a term of reproach, like that of the dog or the swine. The species of vulture, properly so called, have the head naked or downy, the crop external, and very long wings; they all have an offensive smell, and we know of none that even the scavenger-ants will eat. When dead they lie on the ground untouched till the sun has dried them into mummies. Late Western commentators, anxious to distinguish eagles from vultures, have assumed that the first- mentioned never feed on carcasses; and, judging the whole family of vultures by the group of carrion-eaters alone, have insinuated that the latter do not attack a living prey. In both cases they are in error; with some exceptions, eagles follow armies, though not so abundantly as vultures; and vultures attack living prey provided with small means of defense or of little weight; but their talons having no means of grasping with energy, or of seriously wounding with the claws, they devour their prey On the spot, while the eagle carries it aloft, and thence is more liable to be stung by a serpent not entirely disabled than the vulture, who crushes the head of all reptiles it preys upon. SEE EAGLE.
If we take the Heb. ayah to refer to the red kite (Milvus regulis, Temm.), and dayoh to the black kite (Milvus ater, Temm.), we shall find the piercing sight of the former referred to by Job (Job_28:7), and the gregarious habits of the latter by Isaiah (Isa_34:15). Both species are inhabitants of Palestine, the red kite being found all over the country, as formerly in England, but nowhere in great numbers, generally soaring at a great height over the plains, according to Dr. Roth, and apparently leaving the country in winter. The black kite, which is so numerous everywhere as to be gregarious, may be seen at all times of the year hovering over the villages and the outskirts of towns, on the lookout for offal and garbage, which are its favorite food; Vulture-like, it seldom, unless pressed by hunger, attacks living animals. It is therefore never molested by the natives and builds its nest on trees in their neighborhood, fantastically decorating it with as many rags of colored cloth as it can collect. SEE GLEDE.
II. There are three species of so-called vulture known to inhabit Palestine:
1. The Lammergeyer (Gypaetos barbatus, Cuv.), which is rare everywhere, and only found in desolate mountain regions, where it, rears its young in the depth of winter among inaccessible precipices. It is looked upon by the Arabs as an eagle rather than a vulture; for, though properly neither a vulture nor an eagle, it is the largest bird of prey of the old continent, and is armed, like the eagle, with formidable claws. The head is wholly feathered; its courage is equal to its powers; and it has a strength of wing probably superior to all raptorians, excepting the condor. It is consequently found, with little or no difference, from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Pyrenees to Japan. This is perhaps the black species, which is often figured on Egyptian monuments as the bird of victory, hovering over the head of a national hero in battle, and sometimes with a banner in each talon. SEE OSSIFRAGE.
2. The Griffon (Gyps fluvus, Sav.), mentioned above, remarkable for its power of vision and the great height at which it soars. Aristotle (Anim. Hist. 6:5) notices the manner in which the griffon scents its prey from afar, and congregates in the wake of an army. The same singular instinct was remarked in the Russian war, when vast numbers of this vulture were collected in the Crimea, and remained till the end of the campaign in the neighborhood of the camp, although previously they had been scarcely known in the country. Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together (Mat_24:28); Where the slain are, there is she (Job_39:30). Travelers have observed this bird universally distributed in all the mountainous and rocky districts of Palestine, and especially abundant in the south-east. Its favorite breeding places are between Jerusalem and Jericho, and all round the Dead Sea.
3. The third species is the above Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus, Sav.), often called Pharaoh's hen, observed in Palestine by Hasselquist and all subsequent travelers, and very numerous everywhere.
Two other species of very large size, the eared and cinereous vultures (Vultur nubicus. Smith, and Vultur. cinereus, L.) although inhabitants of the neighboring countries, and probably also of the south-east of Palestine, have not yet been noted in collections from that country.
Most of the above named species are occasionally seen in the north of Europe. The voice varies in different species; but those of Egypt, frequenting the Pyramids, are known to bark in the night like dogs. Excepting the peranopteirine (or carrion) vultures, all the other species are of large size; some superior in bulk to the swan, and others a little less. The Nubian species has been figured in Kitto's Palestine; the fulvus in Harris's Dict. of the Nat. Hist. of the Bible. See also Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 173 sq.; Wood, Bible Animals, p. 340 sq. SEE KITE.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
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