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POPULAR

SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY,

CONTAINING

A FAMILIAR HISTORY OF THE ANIMALS
MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE.

BY

MARIA E. CATLOW,

AUTHOR OF ‘POPULAR BRITISH ENTOMOLOGY.’

LONDON:
REEVE AND 0O., HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

1852. .
 

PRINTED BY

JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, LITTLE QUREN STREET,
LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS,
THIS LITTLE WORK

18 INSORIBED, WITH MUOH AFFEOTION,
TO THE FAMILY OF

EDWARD HENRY JONES, ESQ,
WHOSE LONG-TRIED FRIENDSHIP

“FoR HER PARENTS,

AND UNVARYING KINDNESS TO HERSELF,

ABE GRATEFULLY APPRECIATED

BY

THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.

———

Tue little work now offered to the attention of the young
Biblical student, has been undertaken in the hope of ren-
dering some assistance in the elucidation of one, and not
the least interesting, branch of the Natural History of the
Scriptures. Leaving difficult points of doctrine to the
theologian ; critical research into antiquities, manners,
customs, and history, to the antiquary and historian; there
is still abundant interest and instruction to be found, in’
the too-often neglected field of Natural History, opened to
our view in the pages of the Bible ;—the history of those _
animated beings, which were created by the same Almighty
hand as ourselves, and are the objects of the same Al-
mighty care; with inferior powers indeed to those of man,
vi PREFACE.

but equalling, and even surpassing him, in some of his
most boasted endowments: in quickness of sight, as in
the eagle; in swiftness, as in the antelope; and in keenness
of scent and hearing. In constructive power, too, what
architect, after a life of toil and study, can surpass the bee
and the ant, in the perfect adaptation of their edifices
to the wants and the comfort of their inhabitants, or the
beauty and regularity of their structures? Surely, then, if
our Heavenly Father has not disdained to bestow on the
inferior animals, faculties so worthy of our admiration, we.
ought not to neglect or despise the study of so large a
part of His creation. That the observation of the works
of Nature was not neglected by the prophets, poets, and
historians, whose writings form the Scriptures, almost
every page of those interesting and valuable records amply
testifies; the allusions are numberless, and, for the most
part, not only eminently beautiful and poetical, but correct
and graphic in the highest degree.

The book of Psalms and that of Job are replete wi with
PREFACE. vil

imagery derived from animated nature; and the writers of
the New Testament draw abundantly from the same source.
This familiarity with the wild inhebitants of the forest and
the desert, as well as with the more domesticated tribes,
may be easily accounted for, by the wandering life, and the
simple, pastoral habits of the Eastern nations of antiquity,
which would naturally bring them into frequent contact
with animals, forming either objects of the chase, or the
chief sources of their wealth and distinction. Nor do the
Scriptures alone, testify to the knowledge of the ancients
on this interesting subject; the painting and sculpture of
Egypt, the emblematical and other remains from Nineveh
and Babylon, show, not only that the outward forms of
various animals were well known, but that the distinguish-
ing characteristics bestowed on them by their Creator were
highly and correctly appreciated. Amongst the various
animals delineated in the Nimroud sculptures, are the
Indian elephant, rhinoceros, lion, tiger, wild boar, Bactrian

or two-humped camel, antelope, ibex or mountain goat,
vill PREFACE.

fallow deer, horse, monkey, ape, eagle, ostrich, and many
birds, crabs, turtles, and fish of various kinds; cattle of
two species “being distinguished in the sculpture by
horns curved towards the back of the head, and horns
projecting in front ;” also a “ wild ox, once inhabiting the
Assyrian plains, and long since extinct, as neither tradi-
tion nor history records its existence in this part of Asia.
It is distinguished from the domestic ox by a number of
small marks covering the body, and apparently intended
to denote long and shaggy hair*.” The oryx, supposed to
be the wild ox of Deuteronomy xiv., is white, spotted with
yellow and red. The sheep also appear to have been of
two species: that with the broad tail, referred to in Leviticus
ix., is still found in the country.

The emblematic figures in these most interesting and valu-
able remains are thus described by Layard, and illustrate in a
remarkable manner several passages in the Scriptures, par-
ticularly in Ezekiel. The eagle or vulture-headed figares

* Layard’s ‘ Nineveh.’
PREFACE. ix

which “ probably typified, by their mythic form, the union
of certain divine attributes, may perhaps be identified with
the god Nisroch, in whose temple Sennacherib was slain by
his sons, after his return from his unsuccessful expedition
against Jerusalem ; the word Nisr signifying in all Semitic
languages an eagle.” The form of this deity was conjec-
tured to be an eagle, long before the discovery of the As-
syrian sculptures. “The winged, human-headed lions were
types, to embody the conception of the wisdom, power,
and ubiquity of the Supreme Being: they could find no
better type of intellect and knowledge than the head of the
man; of strength, than the body of the lion; of ubiquity,
than the wings of a bird. These winged human-headed
lions were not idle creations, the offspring of mere fancy ;
their history was written upon them, they had awed and in-
structed races, three thousand years ago.”

The human-headed and eagle-winged bull evidently
bears some analogy to the Egyptian Sphynx, and is sup-
posed, like the lion, to be typical of the union of physical
x PREFACE.

strength with intellectual power, the addition of the wings
denoting swiftness or ubiquity. The sphynx is always
represented in a sitting posture; the Nimroud bull, on the
contrary, is figured standing. ‘A human figure with the
wings and tail of a bird, enclosed in a circle, is the type of
Ormuzd, the great God of the Zoroastrian system.”

“The thrones or arm-chairs supported by animals and
human figures, resemble those of the ancient Egyptians.
They also remind us of the throne of Solomon, which had
‘stays (or arms) on either side, on the place of the seat, and
two lions stood beside the stays, and twelve lions stood
there, on the one side and on the other, upon the six steps.’ ”
The prophet Ezekiel, who had beheld the Assyrian sculp-
tures, when seeking to typify certain divine attributes, chose
the forms that were not only familiar to himself, but to
those whom he addressed. “He chose the four living
creatures, with four faces, fowr wings, and the hands of a
man under their wings on four sides, the faces being those

of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle—the four creatures
PREFACE. xi

continually introduced on the sculptured walls; and by them .
was a wheel, the appearance of which ‘was as a wheel
in the middle of a wheel’ (Ezekiel i.) May not this wheel
have been the winged circle or globe, which, hovering -
above the heads of the kings, typifies the Supreme Deity
of the Assyrians P””

Compare these descriptions with the following lines, in
Mr. Salt’s account of the imagery on the walls of the Egyp-
tian temples :—

“ And of such mystic fancies, in the range
Of those deep cavern’d sepulchres are found
The wildest images, unheard of, strange,
Striking, ancouth, odd, picturesque, profound,
That ever puzzled antiquarian’s brain ;
Prisoners of different nations, bound and slain,
Genii with heads of birds, hawka, ibis, drakes,
Of lions, foxes, cats, fish, frogs, and snakes,
Bulls, rams, and monkeys, hippopotami,
With knife in paw, suspended from the sky ;
Vast scarabei, globes by hands upheld,
From chaos springing, ’mid an endless field
Of forms grotesque—the sphynx, the crocodile,
And other reptiles from the alime of Nile.”
xii PREFACE.

And also with the passage in Ezekiel viii., describing the
chambers of imagery” at Jerusalem, in which the Jews
had imitated their neighbours, the Egyptians and Baby-
lonians :—‘ So I went in and saw, and behold every form
of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols
of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall.”

“T have already,” continues Mr. Layard, “described my
feelings, when gazing for the first time on these majestic
figures. Those of the reader would probably be the same,
particularly if caused by the reflection that, before these
wonderful forms, Ezekiel, Jonah, and others of the pro-
phets stood, and Sennacherib bowed; and that even the
patriarch Abraham may possibly have looked upon them.”
These brief extracts will suffice to show the interesting
nature of the discoveries made; and for further information
the student is referred to the valuable work from which
they are gleaned, which will amply repay an attentive
perusal.

Considering it, then, an established point, that the study
PREFACE. xiii

of the Natural History of the Sacred Writings tends to
throw much light on the character of the people who are
there brought under our notice; that such study, earnestly
and lovingly engaged in, strengthens our belief in the ex-
istence of God, and in His goodness and wisdom, which
adapted each animal, from man to the minutest insect, to
fill the place they occupy, the author hopes this unpretend-
ing volume may, by calling the attention of the young
readers of the Bible to this subject, add, in a slight degree,
to the interest of their studies, assisting them in forming a
more accurate knowledge of the animals there mentioned,
and thus paving the way to the study of Nature, and,
consequently, of Nature’s God, in a more extended form.
Notwithstanding the research bestowed on this subject by
many able and learned men, there is still much uncertainty
with regard to some of the species mentioned, and, doubt-
less, some errors, arising from the vagueness of the allu-
sions, or the ignorance of translators; but these are of
minor importance, and do not detract materially from the
xiv PREFACE.

interest of the study. The author has availed herself of
the aid given by the notes of the ‘Pictorial Bible,’ which
" throw so great and valuable a light on the ‘subjects which
they illustrate, and has endeavoured to simplify the infor-
mation given, so as to adapt it to the general reader, and
interest not the naturalist alone, but those who have yet ta
learn that,

“ Wonderful, indeed, are alt His works :
Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be all
Had in remembrance, always with delight.”
LIST OF

PLATES.

a a

. Prate I,
Page
Syrian Bear, Prov. xvii. 12 40

Jackal, Judges xv. 4 .... 61
Prats II,

Jerboa, Zsaiah Ixvi.17 .. 71

Coney, Proverbs xxx. 26.. 78
Puate ITT,

Hippopotamus, Job xl.15, 74
Rhinoceros, Deué. xxxiii.17 79

Piate IV.
Syrian Wild Boar, Pealm
Ixxx, 18 .-.......... 81
Prats V.
Camel, Genesis xii. 16 ... 106
Wild Ass, Job xxxix.5 .. 97

Prare VI.
Wild Ox, Isaiah li, 20...
Syrian Ox, Genesis xii. ..

Piate VII,

Wild Goats, Deut. xiv. 5,
1 Samuel xxiv. 2...... 192

Page
142

141

Prate VIII.

Giraffe, Deut. xiv. 5....., 119
Gazelle, Psalm xlii,1.... 118
Prats IX,

Asiatic Sheep, Genesis iv. 2 128
Prats X.

Bearded Vulture, Job xxxix. 157
Osprey, Leviticus xi.18.. 164
Griffon Vulture, Jodxxviii.7 159
xvi LIST OF PLATES,

Piate XI,

Page
Barn Owl, Leviticus xi. 17 168

Screech Owl, Zsa. xxxiv. 14 172

Prats XII.
Quails, Heodus xvi. 13... 198
Oriental Partridges, Jere-
miah xvii, 11 wwe eae
Prats XIII.

Syrian Dove, Genesis viii. 8 200
Hoopoe, Levitieus xi. 19.. 855

Prats XIV.
Page
Stork, Levitious xi.19.... 218

Crane, Jeremiah viii. 7.... 211
Ostrich, Job xxxix.13.... 208

Pirate XV.
Cormorant, Levidicus xi. 17 229

Ibis, Leviticus xi.17 .... 222
Pelican, Psalm cil. 6 .... 224

Puats XVI.
Lizards, Leviticus xi. 80 .. 248
POPULAR

SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

INTRODUCTION.

Txovuc the intention of this little volume is merely to give
an account of such members of the animal kingdom as are
mentioned in the Sacred Writings, together with interesting
facts relative to their localities, the habits of the genera to
which they belong, and the various uses to which they
were applied, particularly by the Hebrews; it is considered
that the work will be rendered far more useful to the
student, as well as more interesting to the general reader,
by being arranged in a somewhat scientific manner; by
having a concise generic description of the various animals,
and by the introduction (more particularly where the species
is doubtful) of two or more species, in order to supply a
B
2 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

greater amount of instruction relative to the habits and
peculiarities of the genus.

Our knowledge of Biblical Zoology is, and must remain
in a great degree, uncertain and imperfect; the references
being in most cases so vague, as to render it impossible
to define the species alluded to, and sometimes even the
genus is involved in the same degree of obscurity. Very
little light is thrown on the subject by modern travellers in
the Holy Land, as the wilder animals, it is said, have mostly
disappeared from Palestine. Hasselquist,a pupil of Lin-
nus, who visited the Holy Land in 1750, mentions, as the
only animals he saw, the porcupine, the jackal, the fox, the
rock goat, and the fallow deer. Captain Mangles describes
an animal of the goat species, “as large as an ass, with long,
knotty, upright horns; some specimens bearded, and their
colour resembling that of the gazelle.” The former writer
also enumerates the following birds as coming under his
own observation :—‘ Two species of vulture, one seen near
Jerusalem, the other near Cana of Galilee; the falcon near
Nazareth; the jackdaw in great numbers in the oak woods
of Galilee; the bee-catcher in the groves and plains
between Acra and Nazareth; the nightingale among the
willows of the Jordan and the olive-trees of Judea; the
INTRODUCTION. 3

field lark everywhere; the goldfinch in the gardens near
Nazareth; the red partridge and other species; the quail,
the turtle-dove, and ring-dove ; wild geese, ducks, widgeons,
snipes, and water-fowl of every description abound in some
situations. The Holy Land is at present infested with
lizards, different kinds of serpents, vipers, scorpions, and
various insects; flies of many species are extremely annoy-
ing; and ants are so numerous in some parts, that one
traveller describes the road to Jaffa, from El Arisch, as, for
three days’ journey, one continued ant-hill.”*

It would be, however, as unnecessary to look for, as im-
possible to find, even one-half of the animals named in the
Scriptures, in Palestine, or its immediate vicinity. Very
many were brought into the country either for domestic
use, or, in the case of Solomon, as objects of enlightened
curiosity, ornament, and luxury; others are expressly de-
scribed as the productions of foreign lands; and many would
be familiar to the Jews from their residence in Egypt and
their captivity in Babylon, thereby furnishing that poetical
people with the variety of similes with which their figura-
tive language so abounds, and accounting for the numerous
animals mentioned. Thus, speaking of the desolation of

* Modern Traveller—Palestine,
4 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Babylon, the prophet says, it has become “a possession for
the bittern and the wild ass of the desert ;” and Job, speak-
ing of the wicked man, compares his house to that of the
moth, and his meat to the gal? of asps. The lion affords
abundance of metaphors; and no one can read without ad-
miration the magnificent description of the war-horse in the
book of Job, or that of the Jeviathan, the latter of which,
is an example of the difficulty that exists in identifying
many of the animals alluded to. All the writings of the
Old Testament abound in allusions to animal life, showing
a knowledge of the habits and peculiarities of the crea-
tures named, such as is only acquired by accurate and
close observation. Solomon is said to have spoken “of
beasts, of creeping things, and of fishes.” . His Proverbs
are replete with proofs of the wise king’s knowledge of, and
delight in, the inferior animals, and he constantly presents
them as examples of good, or as types of bad qualities; for
warning and for reproof. “Look not upon the wine when
it is red:” “it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an
adder.” ‘Riches make to themselves wings; they fly away
as an eagle towards heaven.” “Let a bear robbed of her
whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.” ‘Go
to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways and be wise.”
INTRODUCTION. 5

David, in the Psalms, is almost equally profuse in his allu-
sions :—“ I am like a pelican in the wilderness; I am like
an owl in the desert.” ‘Yea, the sparrow hath found an
house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may
lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King
and my God.”

Quotations might be multiplied from the book of Job,
from the Prophets, and, indeed, from every part of the Old
Testament, evincing the deep interest taken from the earliest
times in the living works of the Great Creator; and surely
the research into, and contemplation of, the beautiful, won-
derful, and ever-interesting pages of the book of Nature,
which has been so profusely and benevolently spread before
us, is an acceptable offering of our intellect to the Giver of
all things, and a pursuit tending more than any other, to
direct our minds and hearts to “ Him in whom we live, and
move, and have our being.”

The New Testament is by no means deficient in similar
indications, and our Saviour himself, in his discourses,
makes many, and frequently touching allusions to natural
objects, both animate and inanimate. ‘The foxes have
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of
Man hath not where to lay his head.” “Iam the good
6 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep ;
but he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own
the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the
sheep and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth
the sheep.” Many more examples might be brought, but
these will amply suffice to show the frequency of the allu-
sions to, and the use made of, the animal kingdom by the
sacred writers, in the glowing imagery of their magnificent
poems, in their promises, and in their threatenings.

Nor are the poets of profane antiquity behindhand in their
use of animated nature, for description and for metaphor,—
frequently, as will be seen in the following pages, assisting
greatly to throw a light on the obscurity of those passages
which have tasked the profoundest research.

Homer is particularly happy in illustrating his descriptive
passages by the aid of the habits of animals. Thus, he
compares a warrior, reluctantly leaving the field of battle, to
the king of beasts :—

“So turns the lion from the nightly fold,
Though high in courage, and with hunger bold ;
Long gall’d by huntsmen, and long vex’d by hounds,
Stiff with fatigue, and fretted sore with wounds;

The darts fly round him from a hundred hands,
And the red terrors of the blazing brands ;
INTRODUCTION. 7

Till late, reluctant, at the dawn of day,
Sour he departs, and quits th’ untasted prey.”
Here is almost the natural history of the animal in a few
lines. His nightly prowling, his courage undaunted by
hounds and huntsmen, only giving way under the attack
of fire, and, lastly, his retreat at the dawn of day, are all
admirably true to nature, and agree perfectly with the scat-
tered notices in Scripture. Again, he compares a proud
chief to an eagle :—
“ As the bold bird, endued with sharpest eye
Of all that wing the mid aerial sky,
The sacred eagle, from his walks above,
Looks down, and sees the distant thicket move,
Then stoops, and sousing on the quivering hare,
Snatches his life amid the clouds of air.”
And again :—
“ So the strong eagle, from his airy height,
‘Who marks the swans’ or cranes’ embodied flight,
Stoops down impetuous while they light for food,
And, stooping, darkens with his wings the flood.”

We may observe here that Homer calls the bird the
sacred eagle, elsewhere the bird of Jove; and it is interest-
ing to find that in Ezekiel this bird is used as a symbol of
sovereignty, the king of Egypt being described as a “ great
eagle with great wings and many feathers,” and the monarch
8 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

of Babylon, under the image of “‘s great eagle with great
wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers
colours.” Job’s description is almost identical with that
of the Greek poet: “Doth the eagle mount up at thy
command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and
abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the
strong place. From thence she seeketh her prey, and her
eyes behold afar off.”

Homer’s description of the dove is a beautiful illustration
of the gentle bird so often used as a type in the Scriptures.

«The mast, which late a first-rate galley bore,
The hero fixes in the sandy shore ;
To the tall top a milk-white dove they tie,
The trembling mark at which their arrows fly.
2 * s s s s *
The dove, in airy circles as she wheels,
Amid the clouds, the piercing arrow feels ;
Quite thro’ and thro’ the point its passage found,
” And at his feet fell bloody to the ground.
The wounded bird, ere yet she breathed her last,
With flagging wings slighted on the mast ;
A moment hung, and spread her pinions there,
Then sudden dropped, and left her life in air.”

Poets of all ages have celebrated the flight of the dove as
peculiarly graceful. Virgil says :—
INTRODUCTION. 9

Her pinions poised, through liquid air she springs,
And smoothly glides, nor moves her levelled wings.”

The Psalmist’s beautiful aspiration will occur to every
mind: “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would
I fly away, and be at rest.”

Sculpture and painting also lend their aid, not only in
marking the estimation in which animals were held by the
ancients, but also throwing a light on many of the more
obscure allusions of the Scripture writers. From the an-
cient sculptures of Egypt we learn much of the manners of
these people, who were too closely connected with the
Hebrews, not to have imbued them with their customs.
And accordingly, these records form interesting commen-
taries on many expressions used in the Bible: for instance,
the chase was a favourite pastime among the Egyptians,
and from the monuments found in Upper Egypt it seems
that the animals of the desert were taken for the menagerie
as well as for food; for the traps are made with the greatest
care, to prevent the prey from being injured. The animals
are also represented as being led alive, quite as often as
carried after being slain, and the sportsmen use blunt
arrows, to stun, rather than kill; the hounds, too, are
taught to hold their prey without injury: in the preserves
10 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

may be recognized the wild goat, oryx, gazelle, hare, and
porcupine. It is evident that the Jewish monarchs had
adopted the custum of keeping beasts of chase, as well as
cattle, in enclosures; for we read that the daily provisions
for Solomon’s household were “ten fat oxen, and twenty
oxen out of the pasture, and an hundred sheep, besides
harts, and roebucks, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl.”
The antelope is frequently figured, and these graceful crea-
tures appear to have been great favourites with the Egyp-
tian ladies; the Egyptian princess, in Solomon’s Song, is
accordingly represented making use of the following ex-
pression :—“I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not
up, nor awake my love, till he please.” Fowling was evi-
dently a favourite sport with the people of Egypt, as may
be gathered from numerous paintings: the birds were caught
with different kinds of nets; and how many allusions there
are to this practice in the Scriptures—“For man also
knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an
evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so
are the sons of men, snared in an evil time, when it falleth
suddenly upon them.” And again: “As a bird hasteth to
the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.’ The
INTRODUCTION. 11

prophet Hosea also refers to the timidity of the Egyptian
birds, caused by the prevalence of this amusement: “They
shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and a dove out of
Assyria.” The only domestic birds found on the Egyptian
monuments are geese; the ostrich is frequently figured ;
large herds of cattle are also very common, and the ox
was evidently used, as in Palestine, both for food and for
agricultural purposes.

The ruins of most ancient cities furnish their quota of
illustration to our subject, either presenting us with the
sculptured forms of the animals mentioned in Holy Writ,
or some representation of the uses to which they were ap-
plied, agreeing with and explaining the allusions; and these
are continually multiplying as fresh discoveries are made.
Nineveh and Babylon, Luxor, Thebes, and the more modern
Herculaneum, have ail contributed to our knowledge, and
thrown new lights on the difficulties which beset the earnest
inquirer into the truths of Scripture.

The Natural History of the Bible may and will be con-
sidered by many as of minor importance; but is it really so,
when every animated being, from the highest to the most
insignificant, ought to be looked upon as a manifestation of
Divine Power, and a medium of that happiness which the
12 POPULAR, SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Creator has designed for all His creatures? Do we honour
a painter, when despising, or looking with perfect indiffer-
ence on, his worksP Do we show our admiration of a
poet or a musician, by turning with apathy from the noble
thoughts of the one, and the sublime strains of the other P
Do we consider it sufficient to pay them a few unmeaning
compliments? Assuredly not; we study their works, and
learn still more to admire the painter, the poet, and the mu-
sician. Study, then, the works of God, from the firmament
which showeth His handiwork, to the drop of water teeming
with the life He has bestowed, nor consider those creatures
unworthy of regard, which are honoured by the notice of the
wisest men of ancient times ;—by David, the sweet Psalmist
of Israel ; by Solomon, the wise king of the Hebrews; by
prophets, and by moralists, and, above all, by the great
teacher Jesus Christ, who illustrated His sublime and
beautiful Sermon on the Mount with allusions both to
animals and plants. “Give not that which is holy unto
the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine.” “‘ Be-
hold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them.” “Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say
INTRODUCTION. 18

unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these.” The adoption, by our Saviour,
of the lamb as a type of Himself, and that of the dove for
the Spirit of God, are too well known to need comment;
but that of the “ Hind of the Morning,” which is the title
of the pathetic and beautiful 22nd Psalm, so generally
supposed to be typical of Christ’s sufferings, is not so com-
monly known, but is not improbably applied to him, as the
Arabian poets frequently gave to the swn the name of the
gazelle; and the “Sun of Righteousness” is a well-known
designation of Christ. Cowper probably had this in view
when writing those beautiful lines :—
**I was a stricken deer that left the herd

Long since. With many an arrow, deep infixed,

My penting side was charged, when I withdrew,

To seek a tranquil death in distant shades.

There I was found by one who had himself

Been hurt by the archers. In his side he bore,
And in his hands and feet, the cruel scar.”

The animals noticed in the following pages are arranged
systematically, according to the modern classification, in
order to facilitate reference, and to give the reader a ge-
neral idea of the animal kingdom, from the highest class,
Mammalia, down to the Radiata, which make so near an
14 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

approach in their habits and formation to the vegetable
kingdom. These kingdoms were formerly considered so
completely separated from each other, as to preclude the
possibility of their being confounded together; but later
discoveries have proved that these apparently impassable
barriers were not raised by the hand of Nature, and that
there are connecting links so fine and delicate, as to render
very difficult the question of where each begins and ends.
Mr. Rymer Jones thus beautifully expresses this uncer-
tainty with regard to the animal and vegetable kingdoms :—
“Light and darkness are distinct from each other, and no
one possessed of eyesight would be in danger of con-
founding night with day; yet he who, looking upon the
evening sky, would attempt to point out precisely the line
of separation between the failing day and the approaching
night, would have a difficult task to perform. Thus it is
with the physiologist, who endeavours to draw the boundary
between these two great kingdoms of Nature; for so gra-
dually and imperceptibly do their confines blend, that it is
at present utterly out of his power to define exactly where
vegetable existence ceases and animal life begins.”

In Maunder’s ‘Treasury of Natural History’ (a most valu-
able assistant to the student) the animal kingdom is thus
INTRODUCTION. 15

described :—“ The possession of a nervous system being
supposed to be indispensable to the power of motion, it
has been considered the distinguishing characteristic of the
animal kingdom ; but in one division (4crita, comprehend-
ing Polypes, Infusoria, Animalcules, Sponges, &c.) no traces
of nerves have hitherto been discovered. The best charac-
teristic of the animal kingdom is the possession of a mouth
or aperture, through which food is received, and a stomach
by which it is digested; and this would include all the
organized beings which have ever been considered by na-
turalists to belong to the animal kingdom, except the various
kinds of sponges.”

No apecies of the large and useful class Fishes (Pisces) is
mentioned in Scripture, though the references to fish and
fishing are by no means uncommon. In Exodus vii. it is
related, in speaking of the Nile, that “ the fish that was in
the river died ;” and there is great interest in this statement,
when it is known that fish formed a considerable part of the
subsistence of the Egyptians. They ate them either fresh,
salted, or dried in the sun. Diodorus says fish was a
great article of export, and that from the time of King
Merris many persons found occupation in salting the fish
caught in the lake made by that prince, and called by his
16 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

name. In the complaints made by the Israelites against
Moses in the desert, they particularly regret the fish of the
land of bondage: “ We remember the fish that we did eat
in Egypt freely.” Isaiah also, when denouncing divine
vengeance upon the Egyptians, dwells strongly on the ruin
of those who subsisted on the fish and other productions of
the Nile :— And the waters shall fail from the sea, and
the rivers shall be wasted and dried up. And they shall
turn the rivers far away ; and the brooks of defence shall
be emptied and dried up; the reeds and flags shall wither.
The paper-reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks,
and everything sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven
away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and
all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they
that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. Moreover,
they that work in fine flax, and they that weave net-works,
shall be confounded. And they shall be broken in the
purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.”
Diodorus says, that twenty-two kinds of fish were found in
Lake Meeris. .

From the representations of this subject on Egyptian
monuments, we gather, that the fishermen were of an in-
ferior class to the agricultural population, and this is con-
INTRODUCTION. 7

firmed by history. This was also the case in Palestine, and
hence the surprise evinced, when Christ selected two of his
apostles from this despised race. “Now as he walked by
the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus
said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to
become fishers of men ; and straightway they forsook all and
followed him.” The sea of Galilee still abounds in excellent
fish, though from the poverty of the country they are un-
molested, but by the storks and diving birds which frequent
its shores.

In Leviticus, the permission to eat of the inhabitants of
the waters is limited to such as have both fins and scales :
“These shall ye eat, of all that are in the waters; whatsoever
hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the
rivers, them shall ye eat.” The shark, the ray, and the
sun-fish are examples of those fish destitute of scales, while
the seal and the walrus, though living in the waters, have
neither scales nor fins; these latter animals are also am-
phibious, which was another reason for their being regarded
as unclean. The same prohibition was in force in Egypt,
and the people of that country ate no fish brought from the
sea, under an idea that all marine productions were impure :

6
18 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

for this reason, their fish was cured with fossil salt, found

_in the African desert. The priests refused all fish, according
to Plutarch, thinking they might possibly have had some
communication with the sea, Fishing with nets is illus-
trated profusely in Egyptian antiquities, and so constantly
referred to in the Bible, that it must also have been the
habit in Palestine. Our account will be appropriately closed
by the description of this employment, given by the Evan-
gelist St. John.

“ After these things Jesus showed himself again to the
disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed he
himself. There were together, Simon Peter, and Thomas
called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the
sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter
saith unto them, I go a-fishing; they say unto him, We also
go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship im-
mediately ; and that night they caught nothing. But when
the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, and
said unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered
him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right
side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and
now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.”

8
19

Crass MAMMALIA.

—_

Oxzper QUADRUMANA.

Smrap#.—Apes, Baboons, and Monkeys.

Apes chiefly inhabit the forests of Asia and Africa; they
also abound in Malacca and the islands of the Indian Ocean,
congregating on trees and feeding on fruit, leaves, and
insects. They generally live in troops, sometimes construct-
ing a kind of hut as a defence against the weather: their
disposition is often fierce and intractable, though some
species are, on the contrary, grave and gentle; their arms
are so long as nearly to touch the ground when the animal
stands upright ; the fingers and toes are very flexible, being
thus adapted for clinging to the branches of trees, and even
when carrying their young they spring from tree to tree
with wonderful facility. As no particular species is alluded
to in the Scriptures, an example of each division will be
20 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

given; and the Orang Outan (Pithecus satyrus), being the
most remarkable, will serve as a type of the first. It isa
native of the forests in the interior of Borneo, Sumatra, &c.,
and lives chiefly on fruits, though occasionally eating eggs,
insects, and reptiles. These animals approach the height of a
man, and are covered with coarse, reddish hair, the lps are
thin and projecting, the ears small, the nose very flat, and
the face has a bluish tinge; their arms are so long that the
tips of the fingers ean touch the ground when the animal
is erect. Dr. Abel, in the ‘ Asiatic Researches,’ thus gra-
phically describes the capture of one of these creatures :—
“ He was discovered by the company of a merchant ship, at
a place called Ramboon: on the approach of the boat’s crew
he came down from a tree, and made for a clump at some
distance, gaining by one spring a very lofty branch, and
bounding from one to another with the swiftness of a
eommon monkey. After receiving five balls, his exertions
relaxed, and he reclined exhausted against a branch: the
ammunition of the hunters being by this time exhausted,
__ they were obliged to fell the tree in order to obtain him.
But what was their surprise to see him, as the tree was
falling, effect his retreat to another, with seemingly undi-
minished vigour! In fact they were forced to cut down all
BABOONS, 21

the trees before they could oblige him to combat his enemies
on the ground; and when finally overpowered by numbers,
and nearly in a dying state, he seized a spear, which would
have withstood the strength of the stoutest man, and broke
it like a reed. It was said by those who aided in his death,
that the human-like expression of his countenance, and his
piteous manner of placing his hands over his wounds, dis-
tressed their feelings so much, as to make them question the
nature of the act they were committing.”

Baboons comprise a large and fierce tribe, very common
in parts both of Asia and Africa. They are less like man in
conformation, and far more disgusting in habits and cruel
in disposition, than the other tribes; it is said that they can
never be completely tamed, and as they advance in years
they increase in fierceness and brutality. In their native
haunts they live on berries, roots, eggs, and insects, but
often do much mischief in the more cultivated districts, by
depredations on the fruit and grain of gardens and fields,
congregating in troops for these predatory excursions. It
is said that “a troop of them will sometimes form a long
chain, extending from the vicinity of their ordinary habita-
tion, to that of the garden or field they are engaged in
plundering, and that the produce of their theft is pitched
32 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

from hand to hand till it reaches its destination in the
mountains.” There are many genera and species.

The Derrias (Cynocephalus hamadryas) inhabits the moun-
tains of Arabia and Abyssinia, Maunder says, that “this
was probably the species known to the ancients, and figured
on Egyptian monuments :” and from the localities in which it
is found, it may claim to be the ave mentioned in Scripture,
if, indeed, the species can be named with any degree of
certainty. It is about four feet high, the face extremely
long, of a dirty flesh-colour, having a light ring round the
eyes: the hair of the head and neck forms a long mane
falling on the shoulders: the general colour is a mixture of
light grey with cinereous (white with a shade of brown): a
dark brown line extends down the back, the hands are
almost jet-black, and the feet rusty-brown. The Derrias is
gentle and playful when young, but afterwards becomes
sullen and malicious.

The next tribe (Monkeys) are generally distinguished by
having long tails, and cheek-pouches for the temporary re-
ception of food. They are the smallest of the Old-world
Quadrumana, and inhabit India, Malacca, &c., and Africa.
The latter may, indeed, be considered as their head quarters.
They are generally gregarious, associating in large troops
MONKEYS. 28

always composed of one species; their great enemies are
serpents, as they can escape other animals by their superior
agility. Monkeys subsist principally on fruit and succulent
roots; they are very fond of sweets, but when this food fails -
they eat insects and worms, and even descend to the sea-
shore to feast on oysters and crabs: they are said to watch
the former until they open their shells, when they put in a
stone to prevent their closing, and then eat the fish at their
leisure ; to entice the crabs from the holes in which they are
concealed, they put in their thin tails, and when the crab
fastens on it, the artful monkey suddenly withdraws the
bait, and thus drags its prey to shore. As parents they are
extremely affectionate; both the male and female being in-
defatigable in fondling and caressing their offspring.

A few species must suffice as examples, for they are very
numerous, aud they will be selected from those which in-
habit localities probably visited by Solomon’s fleet. .

. The Diana Monkey (Cercopithecus Diana). This species’
is a native of Congo and Guinea. It has a long white beard ;
the body is of a reddish colour, shading into white under-
- neath, with a white crescent on the brow: the tail is very:
long. It has a playful and lively disposition. A

The Green Monkey (Cercopithecus Sabeus) is of a fine
24 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

olive-green colour, variegated with grey; the cheeks are
covered with long, pale yellow hair. It is a native of
several parts of Africa.

The Moustache Monkey (Cercopithecus cephus) is a na-
tive of Western Africa. It has two tufts of yellow hair on
the cheeks, whence its name is derived ; the face is bare, and
of a bluish-black colour; the hair on the head yellow, varied
with black, that on the body and limbs red and ash-colour,
the under part being rather paler.

Having thus given a slight sketch of this tribe of ani-
mals, including only those species which, from the countries
they inhabit, were probably known to the Hebrews, we will
endeavour to collect and simplify the opinions of various
authors, with regard to those members of the family which
are named in the Sacred Writings.

In the 1st book of Kings, x. 22, is the following passage :

—“For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish, with the
navy of Hiram; once in three years came the navy of Thar-
shish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and ayes, and pea-
cocks.” Apes are again mentioned, in nearly similar words,
in 2 Chron. ix. 21. Now it will be evident to the reader,
that from this vague notice no certainty can be arrived at
with regard to species, the original word foph being quite
MONKEYS. 25

as indefinite as the translation; it is also an unsettled and
disputed point, what was the exact locality from which the
animal in question was brought.

The situation both of Tarshish, and Ophir so often men-
tioned in connection with it, is greatly disputed by the
learned. The latter has been variously placed on the western
coast of Arabia, the eastern coast of Africa, the Persian
Gulf, and the coast and islands of Asia; but the general
conclusion seems to be in favour of Sofala, partly from a
similarity in name, and also that all the articles mentioned
could be procured on the coast, or in the interior. Purchas
says that “ivory, apes, gems, and precious woods (which
grow in the wild places of Tebe, within Sofala), and much
fine black wood (ebony) grows on that coast, and is thence
carried to India. As for peacocks, I saw none there, but
there must needs be some, for I have seen the Cafers wear
their plumes on their heads. As there is a store of fine
gold, so also is there of fine silver, in Chicona, where are
rich mines.” It seems much in favour of this idea that the
coast of Africa below the Gulf was the nearest country where
the fleet of Solomon could procure, as native produce, the
commodities with which it was freighted ; accordingly this
opinion has many supporters; but there are yet two alterna.
26 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

tives, the Persian Gulf, in some of whose islands Ophir has
been placed, and India, which has a large majority of ad-
vocates, as affording all the commodities sought for, and,
by its greater distance, accounting for the three years said
to have been spent on the voyage. Ceylon has the greatest
number of votes amongst those who think it necessary to fix
on one particular spot in the Indian territories.

The dispute with regard to Tarshish is equally intricate,
most writers considering Tartessus in Spain (a most im-
portant settlement of the Phoenicians, at the mouth of the
Guadalquiver, and not far from Cadiz) to be the place indi-
cated. Its situation in the west is inferred from Genesis
x. 4, where the name is mentioned with Elishab, Chittim,
and Dodaim, as being one of the descendants of Japheth, to
whom were given the countries of the west. In Psalm lxxu.
10, it is connected with “the islands,” which expression,
amongst the Jews, signified any country beyond the Medi-
terranean. Passages in Ezekiel show it to have been
place of great trade; and in Isaiah it is mentioned as an
important Phenician colony. But supposing this to be
really the situation of Tarshish, it involves another difficulty,
in connection with that of Ophir, as it necessitates a voyage
round the Cape of Good Hope to include both places in one
MONKEYS. 27

expedition, and this voyage, though not considered impos-
sible, involves many and serious difficulties, Herodotus
describes such a voyage as having been for the first time
undertaken by the Phoenicians, under the orders of Pharaoh
Necho, king of Egypt, four hundred years after the time of
Solomon, and these people would surely have known from
their public records (in which circumstances of much less
importance are noted) that the voyage had been frequently
made by their ancestors.

The matter being involved in so much uncertainty, we
shall give the reader the advantage of the deductions made
by the authors of the notes to the ‘ Pictorial Bible,’ in which
a full and interesting account of the various opinions on this
intricate point may be found.

“The reader will by this time begin, perhaps, to question
whether any particular places are denoted by the words Tar-
shish and Ophir. We have already explained that ‘ships
of Tarshish’ were probably so called from being like those
which went from Phoenicia to the Atlantic, especially
adapted to a long voyage. Now, by an obvious transition
of ideas among a people whose notions of distant places
were very indefinite, when ships that made long voyages
were called ships of Tarshish, the name may, in process of
38 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

time, have been transferred, so as to denote any distant
place to which such ships went. This would adequately
explain how it happens that the ships which went to Ophir
are called ships of Tarshish in the book of Kings, but in
the later book of Chronicles are not so called, but are said
to have gone ¢o Tarshish, that is, went a distant voyage.
Heeren applies a somewhat similar explanation to Ophir.
He says, ‘It is very probable that this name, like those of
Thule and others, did not designate any fixed place, but
simply stood as a general name for the rich south country,
including the shores of Arabia, Africa, and India.’ In con-
firmation of this, he observes that the word Ophir signifies
in Arabia ‘the rich countries.’ In these explanations, as
respecting the names of Tarshish and Ophir, we entirely
acquiesce. They enable us to conclude that the fleet may
have gone trading to various places, collecting the different
commodities which were required, and relieve us from the
necessity of finding everything in one place.”

The mention of various animals being brought to Solomon
is very interesting when we consider it in connection with
his known attachment to the study of natural history:
“He spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon,
pnto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake
MONKEYS. 29

also of beasts, and of creeping things, and of fishes.” We
can understand that he commissioned his navigators to bring
home living specimens of the more remarkable foreign ani-
mals, that he might be enabled to acquaint himself with
their peculiar habits and characteristics by actual study and
observation. Thus we find that although trade was the
primary object of his navigation, the wise Hebrew king was —
not insensible to the advantages which it offered him, in
acquiring a larger knowledge of God’s creation; and, as
every one would be anxious to gratify the king in his
favourite pursuit, we may readily imagine that he must
have formed a noble collection of animals, many of which
probably had never before been seen in western Asia. The
writings in which his observations are recorded would have
been of great interest at the present day, but now the only
evidence we possess of his peculiar taste for such studies,
beyond the bare historical statement of the fact, is in the
circumstance that his existing writings contain more nume-
rous and striking allusions to the characteristics of animals
and plants than are to be found in any other sacred writer.
80 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Orpen CHEIROPTERA.

VESPERTILIONIDZ.— Bats.

These animals are characterized by having the faculty of
sustained flight, owing to their anterior limbs being formed
like wings, the fingers being extremely long and connected
by a membrane, which in most species extends between the
hind legs, and embraces the tail, where this member is not
wanting. They all possess four large canine teeth; the
other teeth vary considerably. Cheiroptera are divided into
two families. Jstiophori are distinguished by the peculiar
construction of the nose, the skin being expanded into leaf-
like appendages. The second family, Anistiophori, have
the nose simple. These are again divided into sub-families,
those of the first division being distinguished by the more
or less complicated structure of the nose, those of the latter
by the form of the wings.

There are about twenty species of these interesting little .
animals in England; and Mr. Bell rightly observes that
“it is, perhaps, difficult to account for the prejudices
which have always existed against them: that the ancient
Greek and Roman poets, furnished with exaggerated ac-
counts of the animals infesting the remote regions with
BATS. 31

which their commerce or their conquests made them ac-
quainted, should have caught eagerly at these marvellous
stories and descriptions, and rendered them subservient to
their fabulous but highly imaginative mythology, is not won-
derful ; and it is probable that some of the Indian bats, with
the strange combination of the character of beast and bird,
which they were believed to possess, gave to Virgil the
idea, which he has so poetically worked out, of the harpies
which fell on the tables of his hero and his companions,
and polluted, whilst they devoured, the feast from which
they had driven the affrighted guests.” But that the harm-
less little bats of our own climate, whose habits are so
innocent and amusing, should be connected in the mind
with anything mysterious or alarming, is rather incompre-
hensible.

The original word used in Isaiah, ch. ii. ver. 20, is atedt-
phim, which is supposed to mean “fliers in darkness,” a
very suitable name for bats, which only quit their retreats
when night comes on. They are mentioned also in the
books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy; and in the latter are
very correctly connected with “every creeping thing that
flieth.” Nothing can now be ascertained relative to the
species alluded to, and, indeed, in all probability, no defi-
32 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

nite species was intended, the allusion being simply to bats
in general. There are no very large or remarkable kinds
in Palestine, the most common species being little larger
than those found in England. When examined, it is seen
to be a very delicate and beautiful creature, covered with
fine fur of a pale yellow colour, while the wings are, when
expanded, ribbed with bright red lines. Bats were forbidden
as food by the Mosaic law, but they are considered delicate
eating in some parts of Southern Asia, where they are of a
large size.

The bats of the Holy Land, as usual, live in caves and
deserted buildings, but they also swarm in the towns. Many
of the windows are only latticed, for greater coolness; con-
sequently they harbour in the rooms, clinging in consi-
derable numbers to the high ceilings: the lightness of their
colour, the loftiness of the apartments, and the perfect state
of repose maintained by them during the day, preventing
them from being very conspicuous; but in the evening,
if unable to quit their asylum, they occasion much trouble
and annoyance by flying about the room. They, however,
prefer underground cellars, and there they may be found
by hundreds.

Bats feed chiefly on insects, such as gnats, moths, and
BATS. 33

beetles, the wide mouth and formidable teeth with which
they are provided being an excellent trap for their capture.
Thus they are of great service to vegetation even in our
temperate climate; and in those tropical regions where
insects exist in myriads, many localities would not be habi-
table without this useful family. In this country they
disappear in autumn, and, clustering together in the closest
crannies they can find, remain dormant, until the warm
suns of spring induce them to venture from their retreat.
The female has generally two young ones at a time,
which are naked and helpless at their birth, and constantly
cling to their mother until capable of flight. The ears of
bats are generally very large, so that the sense of hearing
is probably acute. The eyes, on the contrary, are remark-
ably small, and being deeply seated like those of the mole,
they do not seem to be essentially necessary to the animal
in finding its way. The experiments made by Spallanzani
proved that, when blinded, they could find their way be-
tween obstacles of which they had no previous knowledge. —
He suspended willow rods in the room into which he turned
the blind bats, and though he moved these, so as to make
the passages as varied as possible, the animals never struck
one of them, though they flew in all directions. It is
D
34 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

supposed that they feel a different resistance in the air in
time to avoid the obstacle, but by what sensation, or by
what means, it is very difficult to determine: the existence
of such a faculty in this and many other nocturnal animals
is, however, a proof of the wisdom and goodness of the
Creator.

- Bats are very numerous on the banks of the Nile, where
insects abound: in India also, they swarm in the stupen-
dous caves, which have been hewn with so much care and
labour into temples, now almost deserted, and abandoned to
bats and reptiles; in New Holland they are also very nume-
rous, and in the South Sea Islands species of a large size are
found in profusion. The vampire, of which so many exag-
gerated accounts have been published, is found in South
America. It is accused, not only of sucking the blood of -
single individuals, or animals, but of destroying whole herds
of cattle, when these were first introduced by the mission-
aries. Many of the stories related are no doubt based on
trath, though going much beyond it in details, for notwith-
standing that bats are, on the whole, far more useful than
hurtful to man, they have, from their peculiar appearance,
dismal habitations, and the time of their flight, been
ereatures to which poets have frequently had recourse, to
THE MOLE. 835

excite feelings of dread and loathing. As the peacock was
sacred to Juno, queen of heaven, so the bat was dedicated
to Proserpine, the empress of hel].*

Orpen INSECTIVORA.

Tatpa.—The Mole.

These animals are admirably qualified for the subterra-
neous life they are destined to lead. They are five or six
inches in length, the body thick, the head much prolonged,
the nose projecting greatly, and formed for conveying food
to the mouth; they have no external ears, though the sense
of hearing is very acute; and the small eyes are so nearly
concealed by the fur, as to have given rise to the belief that
they were entirely wanting; the legs are very short and the
fore feet strong, broad, and furnished with large stout claws,
thus enabling the animal to work through the ground with
great rapidity. The food of moles consists chiefly of worms
and the larvee of insects, but in summer they appear on the
surface in search of other prey, such as birds, mice, frogs,
and snails; in these nocturnal excursions, they are often, in

* British Cyclopedia: art, Bar.
36 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

their turn, preyed upon by the owl. Moles are exceedingly
voracious, and it is said they die of starvation if kept twelve
hours without food; if two are confined together, the
strongest will, if hungry, devour the weakest, even to the
bones. Farmers are no friends to these little creatures, as
by turning up the earth they expose the roots of plants,
or overthrow them by burrowing; but many agriculturists
think they make ample amends, by the destruction of earth-
worms and other noxious animals.

The fur of the mole is very soft and thick. “Fur of
every kind may be regarded as a species of organ of what is
called touch, not in the mere pile of the fur, but in the
sensation which is instantly communicated to its roots, as
we find in many instances, especially in those whiskers of
nocturnal animals which guide them in their rambles.
Upon the same principle, there is no question that the ex-
quisitely. delicate fur of the mole, which yields to a touch
quite imperceptible to us, is one of the finest organs of
feeling in the whole animal kingdom. Nor is there any
doubt, that this fur communicates to the owner the slightest
concussion of the earth over its nest or its gallery.”* This
quick sense of touch makes ample amends to the mole for

* British Cyclopedia: art. Mone.
THE MOLE, 37

the deficiency in that of sight, which, indeed, would be a
useless gift to an animal destined to a subterraneous ex-
istence. But even this deficiency is not so great as has been
supposed ; the idea of the total blindness of the common
mole is an error, which has been handed down from one
naturalist to another since the time of Aristotle, who, in all
probability, took his opinion from the species living in
Italy, Greece, and other parts of the south of Europe, in
which the eyes are merely rudimental, not larger than a
grain of mustard-seed, and with no opening in the lids.

There is a passage in Shakspeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’
which has been quoted by almost every describer of the
mole, since the time Shakspeare wrote. But notwithstand-
ing the number of times this short passage has been alluded
to, we shall quote it again for the purpose of doing justice
both to the mole and to the poet. The passage to which
we allude is as follows :-—

“Pray you tread softly, that the blind mole may not
Hear s foot fall.”

The scene of this passage is laid in the neighbourhood of
Venice, and the mole of that country is the blind one, but
whether Shakspeare was aware that the moles of that
country have the eyelids unopened, is a question which we
38 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

cannot solve. The probability is, that, like most others, he
had taken his notions of the animal from the description of
Aristotle, or rather from the popular opinion grounded on
that description; and that Aristotle described this blind or
southern mole, for our mole has not only eyes, but very
brilliant ones, though they are very small. The difference
in the eyes of these two species is supposed to be owing to
the greater abundance of under-ground food at the dis-
posal of the mole of southern latitudes, which prevents the
necessity of their seeking it on the surface, where the eyes of
the English mole are valuable to them. How remarkable
is the constant adaptation of means to the end required, in
every part of the creation !

The mole is usually a solitary animal, each having its own
habitation, which is constructed with great care, generally
near a wall or the roots of a tree, which form a shelter: it
is dome-shaped so as to drain off the water, and sufficiently
hard and firm to prevent the rain penetrating through; the
interior consists of two galleries and a circular dwelling,
which are all connected by means of sloping passages. This
habitation is formed in the latter part of the summer, and
is used by the mole as a resting-place from the time the
autumnal rains commence, until the return of summer.
THE MOLE. 39

The mole is mentioned in our translation of the Scriptures
in the following verse :—Isaiah ii. 20: “ In that day a man
shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which
they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles
and to the bats.” The original word has been very variously
rendered. In the Septuagint it is translated vanities; in other
versions, pits, or holes ; but it is more generally understood
to mean some one of those animals which burrow in the
ground ; and it.is probable that the word rendered “ mole”
did not define any particular animal of this class, but was
intended to intimate that the idols should be cast into dark
and secret places, such as are inhabited by the mole and the
bat, or by animals possessing similar habits.

The old English name of the mole, of which the present
is merely a contraction, was mouldiwarp, or mouldwarp,
which simply means that which casts up the soil. In some
parts of Scotland this is changed into moudiewark, or
moudie ; all containing allusions to the mode in which the
animal works in the mould. There is a species existing at
the Cape of Good Hope called the golden mole, from the
extreme brilliancy of its hue. That of England is called
Talpa Europea ; the blind mole, Talpa ceca.
40 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY,

Oxpze CARNIVORA.

Unsus.—The Bear. (Plate I., the Syrian Bear.)

These well-known animals are remarkable for their
massive limbs, and clumsy, heavy appearance. They have
five-toed feet, armed with strong claws, more calculated for
digging in the ground and climbing trees than for tearing
their prey. They are omnivorous in their diet, some
living entirely on vegetable food ; others being carnivorous :
though they will rarely attack man, unless extremely pressed
by hunger, when they are very formidable antagonists.
Honey is said to be a favourite repast with many species,
and they will climb high trees for the sake of plundering
the nest of the wild bee ; they also eat the eggs and young
of birds, small animals, carrion, and fish, as in the case of
the polar bear, who must depend chiefly on what is thrown
up by the sea for his somewhat precarious subsistence.
From the peculiar formation of the shoulder-bones, which
are not kept apart by clavicles as in most other animals,
the bear is enabled to grasp and hug between the fore legs,
much more powerfully than would have otherwise been the
case, thus strangling any unfortunate animal that falls into
its power by strong compression of the chest ; this peculiarity
 

Fete

     

Syrian Rear Jackall.

   

Eroverbs. ..17.
THE BEAR. 41

also enables it to climb without difficulty. The teeth of the
bear are comparatively small and blunt, consequently not
well adapted for feeding on flesh in its fresh state; and this
agrees with the known fact, that the bear never attacks
living animals, if it can find food more easily managed.

Bears of some species or other are to be met with in
every latitude. In Europe, Asia, and America, they are
pretty widely diffused, but are rarely found in ‘Africa: in-
deed they appear more suited to the cold or temperate
climates, and here accordingly they are seen in their greatest
vigour and perfection. They do not seem to extend to the
southern hemisphere, excepting perhaps in the Andes, where
there is a great variety of climate; none have been dis-
covered in New Holland. Bears live chiefly in dens and
eaves, or in hollow trees: they hybernate according to the
climate, and during the period of torpor of course cease to
eat, living on the accumulation of fat they have acquired
during the time of activity, and making their reappearance
in a very lean and exhausted condition.

The Brown Bear (Ureus Arctos) is so called from its pre-
vailing colour, but this colour varies through every shade,
from sooty black to dirty white. It is found in almost
every climate, from the shores of the Frozen Ocean to the
42 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

burning deserts of Libya and Numidia, and is, without
doubt, the animal referred to in the Scriptures. It is
still found in Western Asia, and, though but rarely, in
the wildernesses bordering on Palestine. This species is
found in so many places, and varies so much in size and
colour, that it has frequently been divided and subdivided
into species and varieties; but from the perfect resemblance
in the skeleton, and in the habits, of the bear inhabiting the
Pyrenees, the Alps, and the mountains of Lapland, the range
of the Himalaya, and the shores of the Polar Sea, it seems
probable that the difference in colour and appearance is
merely the result of climate, and the brown, black, cinna-
mon, and white bears, instead of being distinct species, are
probably not even distinct varieties, the colour merely
changing from one generation to another, as well as in dif-
ferent individuals.

The Ursus Arctos feeds on wild honey, fruit, &c., and
those of Siberia, being well fed, are by no means formidable ;
women and children ranging about with perfect safety, even
in the forests where they abound. “ As they are not much
disturbed except towards the close of the season, when they
begin to get fat, they are not timid any more than forward,
and it is possible to pass them as closely and as safely as if
THE BRAR. 438

they were sheep. The sudden appearance of a person in an
unwonted dress alarms them, and makes them take flight ;
but it is said that the most efficient bugbear is an umbrella,
the expanding of which makes them roar and run with
all their might ; an umbrella is, indeed, an object of more
dread to most wild animals than the most efficient weapon
that man can brandish. A fierce bullock is more certainly
turned by flashing an umbrella open in his face, than by _
any other means; and there are recorded instances of the
tiger being put to flight in the same way.”*

The abundance of these bears in the mountains of Swit-
zerland in former times, gave the name of Berne to one of
the Swiss cantons, and at that place bear-pits are still kept
up in honour of the name; the inmates being fed on vege-
tables and bread; all unripe fruit brought to the market
is also confiscated for their use.

The intense affection shown by the female bear for its
young, is illustrated by many interesting anecdotes in
voyages and travels. In Lord Mulgrave’s narrative of a
voyage for the discovery of the North-west Passage, is a very
interesting account of a bear, whose young had been killed
v8 a shot from the ship. Though wounded herself, she

® British Cyclopedia: art. Bran.
44 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

would not leave her young behind; not understanding they
were dead, she placed food before them, and by every affec-
tionate motion tried to induce them to eat; she then en-
deavoured to raise them, withdrew to a short distance, and
looked back, expecting them to follow, but seeing them still
motionless, she returned, and with inexpressible fondness
walked round, licking their wounds and moaning bitterly.
At last, as though convinced that they were indeed dead, she
uttered a fierce and bitter growl, which was answered by
another and more merciful shot, laying the affectionate
animal dead beside her young.

So fine a trait in the character of the bear was not lost on
the sacred writers, and consequently it occurs as a simile in
many parts of the Bible. In Proverbs xvii. 12, “Let a
bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in
his folly;” and again, 2 Samuel xviii. 8, “They be chafed
in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps.” There is a
similar expression in Hosea.

The narrative related in 2 Kings ii. 28, where bears were
made the instrument of punishment to the profane despisers .
of Elisha, is another proof that the Syrian bear (U. Syriacus,
Plate I.) was then a common inhabitant of the country. It
will not be deemed out of place, in connection with this
THE BEAR. 45

subject, to explain the term “little children” as used in
this chapter, which has often given rise to animadversion.
“The term is the same which Solomon applied to himeelf
when not much, if anything, less than twenty years of age,
- and which is elsewhere applied to young but full-grown
men. The translation ‘little children’ is, therefore, cal-
culated to give a wrong impression of this transaction.
They were, doubtless, profane young men, of the city where
the golden calf was worshipped, well enough able to know
what they were about; but who, nevertheless, poured forth
not merely, or principally, expressions of personal contempt
to Elisha, but of derision at the translation of Elijah, when
they thus abusively told him to‘go up’ after his master.
Their act, therefore, did not incur the fearful punishment
which followed, merely as an act of disrespect to the prophet,
but also as a grievous insult to the power and majesty of
God.”*

To the use of the bear, either as food, or of its fur in
clothing, we find no allusions in the Scriptures. It was cer-
tainly not eaten by the Jews, being included amongst those
animals which, from their conformation, were considered
unclean, and were forbidden to them; the fur would also

* Pictorial Bible—2 Kings i.
46 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

be more esteemed in colder climates. To the Kamtschat-
kadales it is most valuable in various ways. They make of
it beds, coverlets, caps, gloves, and collars for their sledge-
dogs, also soles for their shoes, which have the advantage of
not slipping ; the flesh is reckoned a great dainty, and they
usually invite friends to partake; window-panes are made
of the intestines, which are as clear and transparent as
Muscovy glass. A light black bear-skin is one of the most
costly articles in the winter wardrobe of a gentleman in
Russia, and the ladies wear very large bear muffs, half-con-
cealing their elegant shape.

Metzs.—The Badger.

This animal has very short nails, the toes very much
covered by skin, and a pouch from which issues a strong
and fetid smell. The nails are powerful and formed for
digging; the body thick, and legs short. The colour is
generally brownish-grey, with a black band on each side of
the head. Badgers are easily tamed when treated with
kindness, becoming playful and familiar. They burrow in
the ground, the entrance to their habitation being usually
placed in concealment, under tangled herbage or shrubs.

There are only two species, Meles vulgaris, the common
badger, and Meles Labradorica, the American badger. The
THE BADGER. 47

former measures about two feet and a half in length, and
the tail, which is clothed with Jong hair, half a foot more.
The hair of the body is long, close, and fine; the skin, with
the hair on, is employed in making Highland pouches, and
the hair is used for painters’ brushes. The common badger
is very generally distributed over the colder parts of the
temperate portion of Europe and Asia. It does not seem
to have been known to the Greek naturalists, but the
Romans were acquainted with it under two names, Meles
and 7aeus. At that time the locality of the badger was
probably in a more southern latitude ; for it is certain that
the climate of Europe has much changed in character. It
seems, however, very doubtful whether the badger extended
so far to the south-east as to be known to the Hebrews
when wanderers in the desert, which would, too, have been
an unnatural haunt for this animal; consequently, the ex-
pression used in Exodus xxv. 5, when describing the erection
of the Tabernacle, is probably one of those which must be
considered as not giving strictly the sense of the original :
an error, consequent on the very imperfect knowledge of
natural history at the time when the translation of the
Bible was made.

The following explanation of this difficulty is from the
48 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

‘ Pictorial Bible :-—“ It is uncertain what is intended by the
word rendered ‘ badger.’ Some take it to mean a prepara-
tion of leather, as morocco ; all the ancient versions regard
it as a colour of leather or skin, and point out crimson or
different shades of blue. The Jewish traditions concur in
this view with some exceptions, and it is supported by the
analogy of the third covering next beneath this, which was
of ‘sheep-skins dyed red.’ Many, however, with our trans-
lators, regard the ¢akask as the name of an animal, but
differ greatly as to the species. As Gesenius remarks, the
construction favours this interpretation, and he adds, that
several Hebrew interpreters explain it by the weasel or
martin; others by the badger. But in Arabic tahash sig-
nifies the dolphin, with which the ancients, in common life,
classed the seal. ‘Seal-skins’ would certainly make a good
sense, and would be tolerably applicable to all the passages
in which the word ¢akashk occurs. But we are still in-
clined to think, that to understand it as a colour, perhaps
purple, is the better alternative.”

Purorrus (Mustela) vutearis.—The Weasel.

This is the smallest of its tribe, measuring eight inches
in length and two and a half in height. The colour varies
in different climates, but generally the upper parts and legs
THE WEASEL. 49

are pale brown, the under parts white; the eyes are small
and black. It is very generally distributed over the cold
and temperate regions of the world, and is remarkably agile
in its movements, possessing an extraordinary degree of
flexibility, which enables it to make its way through an
almost incredibly small space. The weasel lives on small
animals, leverets, young rabbits, mice, &., seizing its prey
by the neck, when its bite very speedily causes death: it
then sucks the blood, and keeps the flesh till it has become
sufficiently “high” for its taste. The female makes a bed
of leaves and moss for her brood, feeding them with fresh
eggs and small animals; she has only one litter in the year.

This little creature is very bold for its small size, and
often attacks animals much larger than itself. The fol-
lowing curious story is told of one in Scotland, by Mrs.
Lee, in her useful ‘Elements of Natural History.’ “An
eagle was seen by some haymakers, rising in the air with a
peculiar flight; he flapped his wings with violence, as if
much alarmed and agitated, and rapidly ascended; in a
short time, however, he descended with still greater ra-
pidity, tumbling down like a shot bird. When he reached
the earth, the party observing him ran to ascertain the cause
of this occurrence, when a large weasel ran from the body,

EB
50 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

stood upon its hind legs for a few moments to survey its
enemies, and then went into the neighbouring wood. On
examining the eagle, it was dead, having been killed by a
wound in its throat, supposed to have been made by the
weasel. This supposition was confirmed by a similar attack
having been made by a weasel on a grouse, which flew away
with the animal hanging to it.”

The weasel is mentioned in the list of unclean animals
in the 1]th chapter of Leviticus, verse 39, and is there
classed with the reptiles; but the word in the Syriac sig-
nifies a creeping movement, which is very applicable to the
weasel. The Vulgate and Septuagint agree with our version.
The name was very probably given also to some of the lizard
tribe, and in this case one of these might be meant.

Musreza ruro.—The Ferret.

This little animal measures about thirteen inches, ex-
clusive of the tail, which is about five more; it has a sharp
nose, red and fiery eyes, and round ears; the colour is pale
yellow, sometimes mixed with white, black, and brown. In
its wild state it is a native of Africa, whence it was brought
into Spain, and has gradually been introduced into other
European countries. It sleeps almost continually during
the cold weather, our climate being, in fact, too severe for it,
THE FERRET. : §1

except in a domesticated state, and it is necessary to keep
it in a box lined with wool; its favourite food is the blood
of small animals, and it is naturally an enemy to rabbits,
. which circumstance man has turned to account, by making
it the instrument of their capture. When sent into the
burrows of rabbits, the ferret is always muzzled, that he may
not kill them in their holes, but only drive them out, to be
caught in the nets prepared for the purpose. If the ferret
becomes unmuzzled, he is often lost, for after sucking the
blood of his victim he frequently falls asleep in the burrow ;
and there, in the midst of abundance, he remains till the
severity of the winter cold destroys him. The ferret is of
an irritable nature, emitting a very disagreeable odour when
provoked, and its bite is difficult to cure. The female has
two broods in the year, each consisting of from six to nine.
Though this little animal has been introduced into Europe
at least two thousand years, it has never become sufficiently
inured to the climate to pass into the wild state.

The ferret is included in the list of unclean animals
mentioned in the 11th chapter of Leviticus; but it seems
much more probable that the translation is an incorrect
one, than that this native of Africa should have been
known so commonly to the Hebrews, as to render its inter-
52. POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

diction as an article of food necessary. The alternative
seems to be some species of lizard, “perhaps the Lacerta
gecko, a species found in countries bordering the Mediterra-
nean ; of a reddish-grey, spotted with brown. It is thought
at Cairo to poison food over which it passes, and especially
salt provisions, of which it is very fond. It has a voice
somewhat resembling that of a frog, which is intimated by
the Hebrew name, importing a sigh or groan.”*

Canis FAMILIARIS.—The Dog.

This well-known and most useful animal would, from its
familiarity to every one, seem to need little description, and
the number of the species, supposed to amount, with varie-
ties, to a hundred, would render it impossible to enter into
any detail respecting it. The dog is arranged by Cuvier in
three divisions, depending on the length of the muzzle:
the long-muzzled dogs include those most nearly in a
state of nature, such as the wild dog of Nepal, Canis pri-
mavus, considered by Mr. Hodgson to be the original stock
of all the domestic varieties ; those which have this part of a
moderate length, including those species which are the most
serviceable to man, of which the shepherd’s dog is an ex-
ample; and the third division, which embraces the short-

* Pictorial Bible. ,
THE DOG. 58

muzzled dogs, many of which are large and ferocious. The
half-wild dogs of India, Africa, and Australia, the numerous
tribe of hounds, terriers, spaniels, and sporting dogs, all
belong to the first division. The second boasts of the noble
Newfoundland, the useful and sagacious shepherd’s dog,
without whose invaluable assistance, the Scotch mountain
pastures would be almost useless; the cur, and the turn-
spit, whose labours in the kitchen are superseded by the
march of invention. The third includes the bull-dog and
mastiff, which, though in many ways serviceable to man,
have neither the swift motion nor the affectionate and
playful disposition of the first two divisions, being gene- -
rally surly in temper, and snappish to all bat their imme-
diate protectors. That the ferocity of the most savage dogs
is mixed with much that is amiable and intelligent, is
proved by an anecdote which has recently appeared in the
public prints. In consequence of an alarm of fire near
Drary Lane, a poor woman contrived to get on the top of
a chapel, and was making her way across the adjoining roof, .
when she fell through a skylight into a factory in which was
kept a ferocious dog of the bull-terrier species. Guided by
her groans, several men went to her rescue, but, fearing the.
dog, they hesitated. At length fourteen of them rushed in,
64 POPULAR SCBIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

when, to their astonishment, they found the usually savage
animal licking the woman, as if to console her, and, instead
of rushing upon them, evinced the most lively joy that they
had come to succour her. No species of this third division
are ever found in a wild state.

The dog is considered old at fifteen, and few attain the
age of twenty, A small terrier was given to the author's
family, ‘as being too aged for use, and said to be seventeen ;
at all events, she had lost most of her teeth, and her hair
was turning grey; but “Fan” so attached herself to the
family, and particularly to one member of it, who was then
an invalid, and so endeared herself by her intelligence and
extreme affection, that every care was taken of her, and she
lived eight years after her introduction into the family,
when her sufferings from a bad cough made it necessary to
have her destroyed, to the great regret of her friends; for
“poor old Fan” was a universal favourite. Her bright
black-and-tan coat was thickly besprinkled with grey, and
her head nearly white some years before she died.

The English reader of the Bible is often surprised at the
contemptuous manner in which these interesting and af-
fectionate animals are mentioned in the Sacred Writings ;
but the disposition of the dog, as known to us, is in a great
THE DOG. . BB

degree the result of domestication and kind treatment. In
the East they have neither of these advantages, and are
therefore fierce, cruel, and greedy, a character they main.
tain to this day; for Mohammedanism proscribes them as
unclean, and hence, though they are very numerous in the
towns of Western Asia, they belong to no one, and, sub-
sisting on any chance food they may pick up, become fero-
cious and savage to a degree unknown to us. Indeed, in
many places it would be very dangerous to go into the
streets alone, or unarmed at night; and even powerful and
resolute men are sometimes prevented from entering the
gates, unless under the guidance of an inhabitant to over-
awe the dogs. This quality renders them very serviceable
to the Arabs and other nomade tribes, in the care of their
flocks; but still they will not bear any comparison with
our faithful and sagacious shepherd’s dog.

Bloodhounds were formerly trained for the chase, and for
warlike purposes. These dogs were very dangerous, and the
Psalmist probably alludes to them when he says, “ Deliver my
soul from the sword, and my darling from the power of the
dog.” And in the Book of Proverbs is the following adage :
“He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging
not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.”
56 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The texts in proof of the generally contemptuous opinion
entertained of dogs in the eastern countries, are very nume-
Tous, such as in Psalm xxii. 16: “ For dogs have compassed
ine about; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.”
In 1 Samuel xvii. 43, Goliath says, “Am I a dog, that thou
comest to me with staves?” And Job declares, “ But now
they that are younger than I, have me in derision, whose
fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of
my flock.” Many other instances might be mentioned, but
hese will suffice. In the New Testament the expressions
are of a like character, investing our beautiful and interest-
ing favourite with the most hateful qualities ; though Christ,
in his beautiful parable of the rich man and Lazarus, records
an affecting proof of their gentleness. In many profane
authors similar feelings are testified ; even “ Homer’s heroes
call each other dogs with great spirit ;” but modern poets
are more just to the character of this faithful animal. A
short extract from Byron’s well-known lines on a New-
foundland dog will prove his sense of its worth; and many
other passages will probably recur to the memory of the
poetic reader.

* But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend ;
THE DOG. 57

Whose honest heart is stil! his master’s own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone;
Unhonoured falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth;
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.”

These last lines agree in feeling with the belief enter-
tained by the Indian warrior, who thinks that his favourite
dog will bear him company to the “happy hunting grounds,”
8 feeling beautifully expressed in the well-known lines—

“ Lo, the poor Indian ! whose untutored mind
Sees God in clonds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;

Yet simple nature to his hope has given,

Behind the cloud-topt hill, a humbler heaven ;
Some safer world, in depth of woods embraced,
Some happier island in the watery waste,

Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christian thirets for gold ;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,

His faithful dog shall bear him company.”

The numerous anecdotes which might be related, to illas-
trate every interesting point of the dog’s character, would

fill a volume, and, though greatly tempted to record some
of them, I must refrain. There is an amusing and well-
58 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

chosen collection in ‘ Chambers’s Miscellany,’ a work which
ought to be accessible to all young readers.

Canis Lurvs.—The Wolf.

Though nearly allied to the dog, we lose in this animal
all the affectionate and endearing qualities of its domesticated
relative, and though now entirely free from its ravages in
England, it is still the scourge of many of the European
countries during the severe weather, which, by curtailing
the supply of food in the forests, emboldens it to attack tra-
vellers, and prow! about the villages, in large troops, whose
savage ferocity is only equalled by the perseverance with
which they track and follow their victims, whether man,
horses, or sheep.

The first mention of the wolf in the Bible gives the same
idea of stealthy ferocity to its character which it possesses
in the present day. In Genesis xlix. 27, “ Benjamin shall
ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey,
and at night he shall divide the spoil,” intimating that day
and night its delight is to seize and tear its prey; which
agrees with the description given it by travellers, as con-
stantly on the prowl, with apparently an insatiable appe-
tite; most commentators agree in referring the comparison
here made, to the fierce and unjust contest in which the
THE FOX. 59

tribe of Benjamin engaged with the other tribes, and in
which it was almost exterminated. The prophet Habakkuk
makes use of the expression, “ more fierce than the evening
wolves ;” and in Zephaniah a similar text may be found ;
showing that the savage character of this animal was well
known to the ancient writers, and that it must have been
pretty common in Palestine at the time they wrote: at the
present time but few of the wilder animals are found in
that country.

Canis Voupgs (or Vulpes vulgaris).—The Fox.

This animal, as well as the wolf, is now considered as be-
longing to the extensive genus Canis, dog, from which the
fox differs but little in organization ; the formation of the
teeth is very similar, the feet and toes are also alike. The
distinguishing characteristics seem to lie in the somewhat
different form of the eye, the superior length and greater
thickness of fur on the tail, and the nose being more elon-
gated and pointed. The fox differs essentially in habit from
other canine animals: it is more decidedly a dweller in the
ground, making holes or excavations, technically called
- “earths,” for ite dwelling-place; and another peculiarity is
its never joining in bands for any common purpose, but
being quite solitary in its operations,—~in this respect differ.
60 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

ing greatly from the wolf, jackal, and probably the dog in
a state of nature.

Foxes are found in most parts of the world, but are far
more abundant in the temperate and cold climates: from
the severity of the latter, their thick warm fur forms an
adequate protection. They live on small animals, such as
hares and rabbits, the latter of which they dig from the
warren, and game of all kinds, which they destroy in great
quantities; when these are scarce, they make war on
rats, field-mice, serpents, lizards, toads, and moles; roots
and insects do not come amiss to them when pressed by
hunger, and grapes and other sweet fruits are considered a
dainty, as well as honey, for which they will attack and
ransack the nests of the wild bee. The female fox makes
her nest of leaves and hay; the young ones, from three to
eight in number, are born blind, and much resemble young
puppies. The skin of the fox, being furnished with a soft
warm fur, is much used for muffs, boas, and other similar
purposes ; great numbers are, therefore, taken in the alpine
districts of Switzerland, and imported from Newfoundland
and the countries round Hudson’s Bay. The flesh of the
fox is coarse and rank, but is eaten by the natives of the
latter countries, and even in some parts of Europe, where
THE FOX. 61

the animals are fattened on the spoils of the vineyard
during the vintage.

' The common fox of England (Canis Vulpes) is fawn-
coloured, intermixed with black and white. The arctic
species (C. lagopus) is usually of a bluish-grey colour,
though sometimes found entirely white ; it inhabits the cold
regions of the polar circle, particularly in Kamtchatka, sub-
sisting on young wild geese and other water-fowl. Steller
relates, that when he was travelling, he met with great
numbers of these little animals. “When we made a halt by
the way,” he writes, “they gathered round us, and played a
thousand tricks in our view. When we sat still they ap-
proached us so closely, that they gnawed our shoe-strings ;
if we lay down, as if intending to sleep, they came and
smelt at our noses, to ascertain whether we were dead or
alive.” There are various other species in both the Old
and New Worlds.

The common fox was, and still is, of frequent occurrence
in Palestine; but as the original word Shua/ was equally
used by the Hebrews to signify the Jackal (Plate I.), it
is believed by commentators, that this latter animal is, in
most cases, meant. It is the Canis aureus of naturalists,
about the size of the fox, the colour dirty yellow above and
62 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

white beneath, with a dark mark on the back and sides.
Jackals associate together like wolves, forming large packs,
often amounting, in Palestine, to two or three hundred,
thus differing from the fox, which is not gregarious; their
howlings are fearful, hence their Hebrew name ayim,
“‘howlers,” which is improperly rendered, in Isaiah xiii. 22,
xxxiv. 14, and Jeremiah ii. 39, “‘ wild beasts of the islands.”
Jackals, like foxes, live in holes in the ground, and are very
numerous in ruined towns, from which circumstance, the
prophets, in describing the future desolation of a city, say
it shall become the habitation of jackals; a prediction
verified by the actual condition of the towns to which the
prophecies apply. It is evident that this animal, and not
the fox, is alluded to in the account of the marriage of
Samson in the 15th chapter of Judges, as the latter would
have been very difficult to find in so great a number, while
with the former it would be comparatively easy, from their
being found in large packs. This obviates the difficulty
which has often been felt with regard to this incident, par-
ticularly as it is not necessary to suppose that Samson
caught the whole number himself, or at one time. The
animals being tied together in pairs, was, no doubt, intended
to prevent them from retreating to their holes, before the
THE LION. 68

brands had effectually set fire to “the standing corn of the
Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and also the
standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.” The idea of
such conflagrations being caused by foxes, seems to have
been prevalent with the ancients. “Thus Lycophron makes
Cassandra represent Ulysses as a cunning and mischievous
man, the ‘man for many wiles renowned,’ of Homer, and
styles him a fox with a firebrand at his tail. And in
Leland’s ‘ Collectanea,’ there is an engraving representing
a Roman brick found below a pavement in London, in
1675, on which is exhibited, in basso-relievo, the figure of a
man driving into a field of corn two foxes, with fire fastened
to their tails.”*

Fetis Lzo.—The Lion.

This well-known animal is the most formidable of the
carnivorous tribe. It is distinguished from the rest by its
flowing mane, tufted tail, and the absence of all those
markings which characterize the feline race. The lion prin-
cipally inhabits the wilds of Africa, for though found in the
hotter regions of Asia, it is far less plentiful in that lo.
cality. A full-grown lion sometimes measures eight feet
from the nose to the tail, which is itself about four feet in

* Pictorial Bible.
64 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

length ; the general colour tawny, inclining to white beneath ;
the head is very large; the ears rounded; the face covered
with short hair, while the upper part of the head, the neck,
and shoulders are coated with long shaggy hair, which forms
a mane; the tail is tufted with black. Neither the mane
nor the tuft on the tail are fully developed, till the animal
is six or seven years old. The female is smaller, destitute
of a mane, and whiter underneath.

The lion, like the rest of the feline tribe, sleeps during the
day, his eyes not being formed for strong light. As night
sets in, he rouses from his lair, and begins his search for
prey, when his roar resembles distant thunder, putting to
flight every animal within hearing. Tis strength is pro-
digious, enabling him to carry off a buffalo or antelope with
the greatest ease, and his teeth are so strong, that he
breaks their bones without difficulty; the tongue, as in
other feline animals, is covered with reversed prickles, which,
in the lion, are strong enough to tear the skin; and the
muscles belonging to the jaw, as well as those which support
the head, are very strongly developed. The lioness has only
one brood in the year, generally from two to four in number,
which she nurses with great care and assiduity. The usual
period of a lion’s life is supposed to be about twenty-two
THE LION, 65

years, but instances are recorded of their attaining a much
greater age.

Many naturalists contend that there is a distinction be-
tween the African and Asiatic lion, but this is denied by
Buffon and Cuvier, though many modern writers state that
the African lion is larger, more graceful in form, of a darker
colour, and with a less abundant mane. It was from Africa
that the Romans procured the prodigious numbers of these
noble animals, which they exhibited in their public spec-
tacles. Quintus Sceevola is said by Pliny to have shown a
combat of lions for the first time in Rome; Sylla, the dic-
tator, exhibited a hundred; Pompey the Great no less than
six hundred, in the grand circus; and Cesar four hundred.
Mark Antony appeared in the streets of Rome in a chariot
drawn by these noble but dangerous creatures. The con-
querors of the world seem truly to have held a control over
the king of beasts, with which we cannot compete, for the
miserable exhibitions of modern times appear generally to .
have a fatal termination.

It is very evident that the lion formerly abounded in
Palestine, some places, indeed, deriving their name from
these animals, such as Lebaoth and Beth-lebaoth; that they
are not now met with is no matter of surprise, as many wild

¥
67 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

animals have entirely disappeared from localities where they
formerly abounded ; but lions are still found ix many parts
of western Asia, particularly near the rivers Tigris and Eu-
phrates. The lion is mentioned in various parts of the
Bible. In the 14th chapter of Judges one is slain by Sam-
son, and is afterwards found inhabited by a swarm of bees,
thus giving rise to his famous riddle, “Out of the eater
came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweet-
ness.” Again in 2 Samuel, ch. xvii., the lion is made the
symbol of strength and courage: “ He that is valiant, whose
heart is as the heart of a lion.” This metaphor is by no
means peculiar to the Bible, and it is frequently used in the
poetry of Greece and Rome: we also use the same compari-
son, considering the term applicable to our dion-hearted King
Richard. In the 12th chapter of the first book of Chroni-
cles occurs the singular expression, “ Men of war, fit for the
battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces
were like the faces of lions.” This is a forcible comparison,
for few things in the animal creation are more terrible than
the appearance of an enraged lion. The ‘Pictorial Bible’ has
the following remark on this text:—‘We are inclined to
suspect that the sacred historian had also in view the strong
resemblance which the face of the lion bears to that of man.
THE LION. 67

Aristotle thought this resemblance greater than existed in
any other animal, and we are not aware that our acquaint-
ance with a great number of animals not known to him has
tended to weaken this conclusion. There is no other animal,
the face of which is compared to the human, in Scripture.”

The allusions to the “king of beasts” are too numerous
to particularize, but there is an interesting parable in the
prophet Ezekiel, in which a lamentation for the princes of
Israel is expressed under the figure of lions’ whelps taken
in a pit, to which I would call the attention of my readers,
as a specimen of oriental imagery, showing that the habits
of the lion were well understood by the prophet. The first
lion’s whelp is supposed to signify Jehoahaz, who was car-
ried prisoner into Egypt by Pharaoh Necho; the second,
Jehoiakim, or his son Jeconiah, in all probability the former,
as it is said in 2 Chron. xxxvi. that Nebuchadnezzar bound
him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

The hunting of the lion, as well as other wild animals,
formed a great amusement in most oriental countries, and
this practice, no doubt, gave rise to much of the imagery
the language of the prophets, in which are frequent allusions
to nets, snares, and pits, showing the manner in which the
denizens of the forest were subdued by the art of man.
68 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Thus, in Psalms, “The sorrows of hell compassed me
about ; the sxares of death prevented me.” “The proud
have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a
net by the wayside; they have set gius for me.” In the
sculptures on a rock at Takt-i-Bostan, in Persia, is repre-
sented a large enclosure, formed of poles and nets, into
which the animals are being driven by hunters on elephants
or horses, who are engaged in slaughtering them with spears
and arrows. Plutarch mentions hunting nets belonging to
the Macedonian conquerors, capable of enclosing a space
measuring a hundred furlongs.

“The lion, as an ancient Christian symbol, is of frequent
recurrence, more particularly in architectural decorations.
Antiquarians are not agreed as to the exact meaning at-
tached to the mystical lions placed in the porches of so many
old Lombard churches, sometimes with an animal, some-
times with a man in their paws. But we find that the lion
was an ancient symbol of the Redeemer, ‘the lion of the
tribe of Judah ;’ also of the resurrection of the Redeemer,
because, according to an Oriental fable, the lion’s cub was
born dead, and in three days its sire licked it into life. In
this sense it occurs in the windows of the cathedral at
Bourges. The lion also typifies solitude—the wilderness,
THE LEOPARD. 69

and in this sense is placed near St. Jerome, and other saints
who did penance or lived as hermits in the desert, as in
the legends of St. Paul the hermit, St. Mary of Egypt, St.
Onofrio. Further, the lion is an attribute denoting death
in the amphitheatre, and with this signification is placed
near certain martyrs, as St. Ignatius, St. Euphemia. The
lion, as the type of fortitude and resolution, was placed at
the feet of those martyrs who had suffered with singular
courage, as St. Natalia. When other wild beasts, as wolves
and bears, are placed at the feet of a saint attired as a
bishop or abbot, it signifies that he cleared waste lands, cut
down forests, and substituted Christian culture and civiliza-
tion for paganism and the lawless hunter’s life; such is the
signification in pictures of St. Magnus, St. Florentius, and
St. Germain of Auxerre.”*

Feuis Leorarpus.—The Leopard.

The Leopard is about four feet in length, to the tail,
which measures two and a half; the colour is pale yellow,
with black spots, formed of a cluster of smaller ones. This
animal is often confounded with the panther, from which it
may, however, be distinguished by its lighter colour, and
the comparatively small size of the markings, which are also

* Mrs. Jameson’s ‘Legendary Art.’
70 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

less distinct. The leopard is an active, graceful animal,
fierce and rapacious, like most of its tribe, and is generally
captured by means of snares or pitfalls. One species seems
to have been of frequent occurrence in Palestine, as several
places bear its name; there seems to be no question that the
leopard was meant, as the word used denotes this animal
in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Ethiopian languages; and in
Jeremiah xiii. there is an allusion to its spotted skin: “Can
the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ?”
The leopard is still met with in Syria and Arabia, though
by no means abundantly ; its swiftness is proverbial in all
countries where it is known, and suggested the idea of
taming and using it in the chase. In Habakkuk, ch. i, is
the following expression :—‘ Their horses also are swifter
than the leopards.” Harmer suggests that the figure here
employed may have been more striking to the people, from
their having seen the prodigious feats of leopards used in
the royal chase. They were certainly thus employed in
ancient Egypt, as is shown by their paintings; but it is
rarely that they are used for this purpose in Western Asia
at the present day, the practice being still common in the
East. In India the cheetah is most frequently employed,
and there seems little doubt that the species known to the
 

ne
i

Jerboa. Coney.
Isanah 66.17. | Proverbs 30.26
THE JERBOA. 71

ancients, and common in Palestine, was Felis jubata, the
hunting leopard (thus agreeing with the frequent allusions
to its swiftness); this species being now found in those
countries known to the ancients, while the Felis Leopardus
is principally obtained from the Eastern Archipelago, with
which they had little communication.

Orprr RODENTIA.

Dreus sacrrra.—The Jerboa. (Plate IT.)

There is no animal mentioned by this name in the Scrip-
tures, but it is supposed that wherever the word mouse oc-
curs, a species of Dipus is intended. The singular genus to
which it belongs is a connecting link between the squirrel
and the rat, while the enormous size of the hind legs and
tail give it a great general resemblance to the kangaroo.
The body of the most common species measures about eight
inches, and the tail no less than ten, terminated by a tuft of
black hair; the colour is a tawny yellow; the head is short,
the ears thin, broad, upright, and rounded ; the eyes large
and dark ; the fore legs about an inch in length, the hind
legs extremely long, and greatly resembling those of a bird ;
é
72 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

on each side the nose are several long hairs. This little
animal generally stands on its hind feet, and leaps to a great
distance ; it employs the fore feet in feeding, putting to its
mouth the corn and various vegetable substances on which
it lives. Jerboas burrow in dry and clayey ground, making
holes of considerable length, leading to large nests, which
have generally only one opening, though there is commonly
a passage to within a short distance of the surface, as a
means of escape from danger; in these holes they sleep
during the day, coming out at sunset. They are very
abundant in Egypt and Syria; the flesh, though eaten by
the natives of the East, is unsavoury. Mice are mentioned
amongst those animals which were interdicted to the Jews
as food by the laws of Moses, in Leviticus xi., and again
in 1 Samuel vi., as “ mice that mar the land :” this expres-
sion is particularly applicable to the jerboa, as its food being
entirely vegetable, great numbers would indeed “mar the
land,” and prove very injurious to cultivation.

Lypvs.—The Hare.

The Common Hare, Lepus timidus, presents all the cha-
racters of the genus in so great a degree, as to form its
most perfect type. Its sight and hearing are the most acute ;
its timidity is unequalled ; and its swiftness is surpassed by
THE HARE. 73

none. The usual length of the hare is about two feet, the
colour reddish-grey above and white beneath ; the upper lip
is divided; the eyes large and prominent, and said to be
constantly open even during sleep; the tail is very short,
and turned up. It lives principally in dry and flat grounds ;
feeds at night on various kinds of herbage, preferring those
of a milky and succulent nature; and often does great in-
jury to wheat and young plantations. The female produces
three or four young ones at a time, and has several broods
in a year: they seldom exceed the age of seven or eight
years, and many enemies besides man contribute to thin
their numbers, which would otherwise multiply to an in-
convenient degree.

There are many known species, such as Lepus varia-
bilis, which is found only in mountainous districts in cold
countries, changing its colour from black or dark grey to
white, according to locality and climate, and even to the
different seasons. Lepus Capensis is peculiar to the country
near the Cape of Good Hope; it very much resembles
L. timidus in colour. Lepus Tolai is rather larger than
the common hare; it inhabits the plains of Mongolia and
Tibet. Many varieties occur in different parts of Asia;
and to one or more of these, reference is made in the 11th
74 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

chapter of Leviticus, where they are included with those
animals forbidden by the legislator to be used as food by
the Hebrews. “And the hare, because he cheweth the
cud, but divideth not the hoof, he is unclean to you.”
The statement that the hare does chew the cud, has been
disputed by naturalists; but Cowper, who domesticated
three of these animals, says, “they chewed the cud all
day ;” thus confirming the decision of Moses. The hare
is pursued and eaten by the Bedouin Arabs and other
Mahomedan nomades, as they are found in great numbers .
in western Asia. They are not forbidden by the Koran
as articles of food, but are classed by Moslem doctors as
“abominable,” though legally allowed.

Ogsprr PACHYDERMATA.

Hrerororamus ampursrus. The River Horse. (Plate ITI.)
This gigantic animal is in bulk little inferior to the ele-
phant, but its legs being much shorter, give it a more di-
minutive as well as more clumsy appearance. The head is
immensely large, the mouth very wide, provided with large
strong teeth, the tusks often measure two feet, and ‘are
ae

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THE RIVER-HORSE, 75

curved forwards; the lips are very thick, the nostrils and
eyes small; the ears small and slightly pointed; the tail
short, thick, and sparingly clothed with hair; the feet are
large, and have four toes, terminated in separate hoofs.
The general colour is dark brown, lighter underneath. The
hippopotamus walks about at the bottom of rivers, raising
its head at intervals for the purpose of respiration: at night
it leaves its watery residence to eat the herbage that grows
on the banks and in the neighbouring pastures; it also
destroys trees, and commits great havoc in the maize, rice,
and sugar plantations. The female produces only one at
a birth, which she nurses with great care; the flesh is eaten
by the Africans, and for this purpose the animal is taken
by pitfalls.

The hippopotamus was formerly known in the lower
regions of the Nile, but is at present seldom found in
Egypt, though continuing to inhabit the rivers of Africa
and the lakes of Abyssinia and Ethiopia. The word “hip-
popotamus”’ is not mentioned in the Bible, but the Behe-
moth, named in Job, ch. xl., is now generally supposed to
be that animal, and, indeed, the description is singularly
applicable. “Behold now Behemoth, which I made with
thee, he eateth grass as an ox: lo, now his strength is in
76 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

his loins, and his force in the navel of his belly. He
moveth his tail like a cedar. .”. . His bones are as strong
pieces of brass, his bones are like bars of iron... . He
lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed and
the fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow,
the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he
drinketh up a river and hasteth not, he trusteth that he
can draw up Jordan into his mouth.”

The word Behemoth is a very remarkable one; it is plural,
and yet denotes one animal; whereas the singular of the
same word is a noun of multitude, properly rendered by
cattle or beasts. The plural form is applied to one animal
to express its pre-eminence: what animal was intended has
caused much discussion. All the alterations which have
been suggested are limited to the animals belonging to
Cuvier’s class Pachydermata—thick-skinned. To this class
equally belong the elephant, the hippopotamus, and some
extinct species of enormous animals, as the mastodon,
mammoth, and others. The determination in favour of
the elephant has found some distinguished advocates, but
if that remarkable animal had been intended, we should
have scarcely failed, in so precise a description, to recognize
some reference to its more peculiar characteristics,—its pro-
THE RIVER-HORSE. 77

boscis, its tusks, its docility, and sagacity. It is possible
that the creature here alluded to is extinct, but certainly
the description agrees remarkably well with the hippopota-
mus, and still more so in the original than in our trans-
lation. The Jews have a curious and absurd notion on
this subject. They hold that Behemoth is a large animal
which has subsisted since the creation, and which is re-
served to be fattened, for the feast to be enjoyed by pious
Jews in the days of the Messiah. Every day he eats up all
the grass of a thousand hills, and at each draught swallows
as much water as the Jordan yields in the course of
six months. Such is or has been their opinion*.

“He eateth grass as an ox.” This seems to have been
considered and noticed as something remarkable; and it
certainly is so in the case of the hippopotamus, which, being
an inhabitant of the water, still eats the produce of the
land. The last verse is in our translation very. obscure,
but that of Boothroyd agrees very well with an amphibious
animal, such as the river-horse :—

**Lo, should a river overflow, he hasteneth not;
He is secure, though Jordan rush to his mouth.”

* Notes to the ‘ Pictorial Bible,’
78 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Hyrax Syriacus.—The Daman. (Plate IT.)

This little animal, supposed by many writers to be “the
coney” of Scripture, belongs to a curious genus of small
rabbit-like animals, which chiefly inhabit Africa and Syria,
living in rocky and mountainous districts, and leaping with
great agility from one crag to another. They resemble rab-
bits both in size and colour; the limbs are short, and they are
destitute of a tail; the head is rather small, the ears short
and round, the eyes large and black. They subsist on
grain, fruit, roots, herbs, and grass; are easily tamed, and
prove lively, active, and docile when domesticated. “It is
on the sole authority of the Rabbinical writers that the
shaphan has been identified with the coney, or rabbit. That
this conclusion cannot be correct is very evident, for the
rabbit is not an Asiatic animal, and it is far from being
solicitous of a rocky habitation, which is the distinguish-
ing characteristic by which the skaphan is here denoted.
Some, therefore, who reject this explanation, suppose the
Jerboa to be intended; and this opinion has the sanction
of Bochart, probably from his being unacquainted with the
Daman, or Hyraz Syriacus, which corresponds far better
than any other animal that: has been found, to the brief
intimations which the Scriptures convey. Daman is the
THE RHINOCEROS, 79

Syrian name of the animal; the Arabs call it Nadr, and the
Abyssinians Ashhoko.”* Its colour is grey, mixed with
reddish-brown, and white underneath.

Ruioceros.—(Plate III. Rhinoceros Africanus.)

This uncouth-looking animal is supposed to be the Uni-
corn of the Scriptures; it inhabits the hotter regions of
Asia and Africa: that of Asia is usually about twelve feet
long, and seven in height; the head is rather large, having
a very protruding upper lip, which is extremely pliable,
and answers the purpose of a small proboscis; the ears are
moderately large, and pointed; the eyes small, and half-
closed ; from the bones on the nose rises a slightly curved,
solid, sharp-pointed horn, which sometimes measures three
feet in length, though more usually about eighteen inches.
The skin is thick and coarse, with a granulated surface, suf-
ficiently impenetrable on the body and limbs to resist the
claws of the lion or tiger, and the sword or shot of the
hunter ; the tail is slender; the legs short, strong, and thick,
and the feet divided into three large hoofs. The rhinoceros
is naturally of a quiet, peaceful disposition, but very dan-
gerous when provoked, trampling down or ripping with its
horn any animal which attacks or opposes it. It leads a

* Pictorial Bible.
80 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

tranquil life, lying on the marshy banks of rivers and lakes,
and bathing in their waters. There-are five or six species.
Rhinoceros bicornis, found in various parts of Africa, has, as
its name imports, two horns ; the skin, instead of the regular
armour-like folds of the preceding species, Rhinoceros wni-
cornis, has merely a slight wrinkle across the shoulders and
on the hinder parts. Another is met with in Java, with one
horn; a fourth in Sumatra, with two; and one or more
species in Africa, besides the 2. dicornis, one variety found
in southern Africa being white.

The original word used in Job and elsewhere is “ Reem,”
rendered in the Septuagint “ one-horned,” equivalent to our
“ unicorn,” buat there is nothing in the Hebrew word which
implies that the “Reem” had only one horn; and in the
passage in Deuteronomy, ch. xxxiii., “ His horns are like the
horns of the reem,” the word is singular, not plural, and
should have been “unicorn,” not “unicorns,” as in our
version, but it would have been inconsistent to have said
“the horns of the unicorn,” therefore the word was put in
the plural*, In other passages one horn is only mentioned,
as in Psalm xcii., “But thou wilt exalt, as the reem, my
horn :” this, however, is no evidence against the animal in

* Notes to the ‘ Pictorial Bible.’
THE HOG. 81

question having two horns, as it is not uncommon to speak
of “the horn” of an animal that has really two, but never
of the dorns of a creature having but one. Some commen-
tators, therefore, think the buffalo may be intended, but the
greater number lean to the idea of a one-horned animal, and
it has the sanction of the Vulgate, which gives rhinoceros
as the equivalent of the word monoceros. The description
given in Job xxxix. is as follows; but, contrary to that
jast quoted, respecting the hippopotamus, there are no dis-
tinctive traits by which the rhinoceros may be recognized :
—“ Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by
thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the
farrow ? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou .
trust him because his strength is great, or wilt thou leave
thy labour to him P Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring
home thy seed, and gather it into thy batn?” Some writers
consider the reem to signify the giraffe, as the word may be
rendered “the tall animal ;” but it is certainly one of the
most difficult species to determine.

8us.—The Hog. (Plate IV. Syrian Wild Boars.)

The wild boar, from which all the varieties of this useful
and well-known family are derived, is a native of nearly all
the temperate parts both of Europe and Asia. It is a fierce

@
82 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

and very powerful animal, armed with long and sharp tusks,
capable of inflicting most dangerous wounds. The colour
’ of the wild boar is a dark brindled grey, though when quite
young it is marked by alternate dusky and pale bands ; the
snout is longer in proportion than in the domestic species,
but the chief characteristic difference is the length of the
tusks, The female is timid and inoffensive, but evinces the
most determined courage if her young are in danger, and
defends them with great fierceness. The wild boar was
formerly a frequent inhabitant of our forests, affording an
exciting though dangerous amusement to the lovers of
the chase. By a forest law of William the Conqueror it
was enacted, that any persons found guilty of killing a wild
boar (excepting, of course, the privileged few), should lose
their eyes; a law worthy of the barbarous times in which it
was enacted. .

The “swine” of Leviticus xi., in all probability, bore a
much greater resemblance to the wild boar than to our
quiet domestic animals. Their flesh was prohibited by.
Moses as food: ‘The swine, though he divide the hoof,
and be cloven-footed, yet he cheweth not the cud: he is
unclean to you.” This interdiction is by no means pecu-
liar to the Hebrews: the Egyptians, Arabs, and Pheni-
THE HOG, 83

cians all agreed in disliking the animal, and forbidding its
use as food. Herodotus mentions that, if an Egyptian
even touched a hog, he immediately plunged into water, so
polluted did he consider himself; and yet on certain ocea-
sions they not only sacrificed the animal to Bacchus and
Luna, but afterwards feasted on the flesh. By his interdic-
tion Moses therefore prevented the Hebrews from joining
in these acts of idolatry, though the principal reason was
no doubt the unwholesome qualities of the flesh, to a people
who were peculiarly liable to leprosy and other cutaneous
disorders. Michaelis says that leprosy was very general in
Egypt, and that the Israelites probably left the country so
far infected with this disease, that their lawgiver made many
regulations on the subject, in order that the contagion
might be weakened.

The next interesting mention of this animal is in Psalm
Ixxx., where, in speaking of a vine, the Psalmist says, “The
boar out of the wood doth waste it.” In the Rev. J. Hart-
ley’s ‘Researches in Greece and the Levant’ is the following
interesting explanation of this passage :—‘ The force and
beauty of this figure, derived from a practice connected
with the wild boar, has probably been seldom observed.
My friend the Rev. Mr. Leeves was proceeding, in the dusk
84 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

of the evening, from Constantinople to Therapia.  Pass-
ing a vineyard, he observed an animal of large size rushing
forth from among the vines. The Greek syrogee, who was
riding first, exclaimed, ‘ Wild boar! wild boar!’ and really
it did prove a wild boar, who was retreating from the vine-
yards to the woods. ‘What has the wild boar to do with
the vineyards?’ said Mr. Leeves. ‘Oh,’ said the syrogee,
‘it is the custom of the wild boars to frequent the vine-
yards to devour the grapes.’ And it is astonishing what
havoc a wild boar is capable of effecting during a single
night. What with eating, and what with trampling under
foot, he will destroy an immense quantity of grapes. With
what fatal propriety does this affecting image retain its
force up to the present moment! Still is the vine of Israel
broken down, ravaged, cut down, burnt with fire.”

The oriental wild boars do infinite mischief to fields,
plantations, gardens, and vineyards; and the custom of the
Greeks and Romans, of sacrificing a hog to Ceres at the
commencement of harvest, and one to Bacchus before the
vintage, shows that they also suffered from their attacks on
the corn-field and vineyard.

It would appear from the account in the 8th chapter of
Luke, that the Jews reared swine, though they were for-
 

THE HOG. 85

bidden to eat their flesh: “There was an herd of many
wine feeding on the mountain.” ‘Indeed, there was no-
thing in the law of Moses to prevent their doing so, and
this was accordingly done openly, for the sake of selling
them to their heathen neighbours, until if was prohibited
about seventy years before the Christian era. This inter-
diction is said to have arisen from the following circum-
stance :—‘ When Aristobulus was besieging Hyrcanus in
Jerusalem, not wishing to interrupt the service of the Tem-
ple, he permitted an arrangement, under which money was
let down from the Temple in a box, in return for which, the
“lambs required for the daily sacrifices were sent up. It at
- last occurred to a mischievous old man that there would be
no overcoming the adverse party while they employed them-
selves in the service of God, and therefore one morning he
put a hog in the box instead of a lamb. When half-way
up, the pig reared himself up, and happened to rest his fore
feet upon the Temple wall; whereupon, continues the story,
Jerusalem and the land of Israel quaked. In consequence
of this, an order was issued by the Council, ‘Cursed be he
that breedeth hogs.’ Such is the origin of the order
against rearing hogs, as related in the Babylon Talmud.
One of the enforcements of this prohibition is curious, as
86 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZUOLOGY.

showing for what purposes, besides sale, hogs had been
reared by the Jews: ‘It is forbidden to rear any hog in
order to obtain profit from its skin, or from its fat, for
anointing or for light.’ From this it would appear that
the Jews had been wont to make ointments with hog’s lard,
and that they did not exclusively use oil for lights, but fat
also, which was probably done, according to a method we
have often seen in the East, by introducing a wick into a
lump of grease, which is set in a lamp, or in a round, hol-
low vessel made for the purpose*.”

That this prohibition was not strictly observed seems pro-
bable, from the account of this “herd of swine ;” but they
may have belonged to the heathen, who certainly lived with

‘the Jews in the towns of the neighbourhood mentioned.

* My readers will all recollect another mention of this
animal which occurs in Matthew vii., “Give not that which
is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn
again and rend you.” The formidable tusks of the oriental
wild boar would give great force to the latter part of this
verse, to those who had seen the animal, or suffered from its
ravages in their fields and vineyards.

* Pictorial Bible: notes to Luke viii,
THE HORSE, 87

Ozper SOLIDUNGULA,

Equus Capattus.—The Horse.

This useful and most beautiful quadraped is too well
known to need much description. An old writer, Camera-
rius, says, that a perfect horse should have the breast broad,
the hips round, and the mane long; the countenance fierce
like a lion, a nose like a sheep, the head, legs, and skin of
a deer, the throat and neck of a wolf, and the ear and tail
of afox. The hoof of the horse is broad and undivided ;
the teeth are of three kinds; the eyes large and rather pro-
minent; the ears small and erect. The horse is well fitted
to live on dry open plains, which are covered with short
herbage, much better suited to his lips and teeth, than any
other kind of food, but he must also be well supplied with
water, of which he takes an ample quantity. In a state of
nature he herds with his fellows, and they may be seen in
droves consisting of several hundreds; the animals are quite
inoffensive, and form a most animated and interesting
picture, their fine forms thrown into a variety of graceful
attitudes, rearing, curvetting, or engaging in the race,
Byron thus beautifully describes the manners of a herd of
wild horses :—
88 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

“They stop—they start—they snuff the air,
Gallop a moment here and there,
Approach, retire, wheel round and round,
Then plunging back with sudden bound,
Headed by one black mighty steed,

‘Who seemed the patriarch of his breed,
Without a single speck or hair

Of white upon his shaggy hide;

They suort—they foam—neigh—swerve aside,
And backward to the forest fly,

. By instinct, from a humen eye.”

The most numerous herds are at present found on the ex-
tensive plains of South America, where, when an additional
horse is required, it is taken by the lasso, a strong plaited
thong, about forty feet in length, which the guachos cast dex-
terously round the frightened animal, when in full career ;
the sudden jerk throws him to the ground, and once in the
power of man, he is soon made to submit to his will, and to
devote his strength to the docile fulfilment of his wishes.

«Tt has been well observed, that had not custom dignified
the lion with the title of ‘king of beasts,’ reason could
nowhere confer that honour more deservedly than on the
horse. His courage, strength, and fleetness, his symmetri-
cal form, and grandeur of deportment, are unalloyed by any
quality injurious to other creatures, or calculated to create
THE HORSE. 89

the aversion of man; whose orders he implicitly obeys,
whose severest tasks he undertakes with a cheerful alacrity,
- and whose pleasures he contributes to with animation and
delight *.””

It is unnecessary to enter into a description of the many
varieties of this beautiful and useful animal; most civilized -
countries possess a peculiar breed. The Arabian, the Anda-
lusian, the French, and English horses, each have their pe-
culiar qualifications. Thus the Spanish genette is small, but
beautifully formed, moving with great ease and grace. The
Andalusian is docile and courageous, and possessing many
other estimable and useful qualities. The Flemish horses
are noted for size and strength; while the English hunter
and race-horse are believed to be unrivalled.

“What region the horse originally inhabited, or to what
nation we are indebted for his first subjugation, are questions
far too remote for history to resolve. That this animal is
of eastern origin, and that the Egyptians were the first to
reduce it to obedience, and train it to the various purposes
of civilized life, appears highly probable from various pas-
sages in the Bible, though no direct testimony of such a
fact is to be gathered from that source. Representations of

* Maunder’s Treasury.
90 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

horses appear on Egyptian monuments more than four
thousand years old; and also on still more ancient sculp-
tures on the banks of the Euphrates. The first men-
tion of the horse occurs during the wise administration of
Joseph in Egypt, who, we are told, gave the famishing in-
habitants bread ‘in exchange for horses,’ and also when
the body of the patriarch Jacob was removed from Egypt
to Canaan for burial, we read that ‘there went up with
him both chariots and horsemen.’ The period when the
horse is thus indicated as a beast both of draught and of
burden, is 1650 years before the birth of Christ, which is
a date anterior to any that profane history affords on the
subject *.”

In the 11th chapter of Joshua, the first mention is made
of horses, unconnected with Egypt, and then it is in
countries to the north of Palestine; it 1s curious that no
mention is made of the animal, during the period when the
Israelites were wandering on the confines of Arabia, which
is considered by some naturalists as its native country,
Camels, asses, oxen, and sheep are all named as existing in
considerable numbers; but even at a much later time, as
recorded in the book of Judges, ch. vi., when the Arabians

* Maunder’s Treasury.
THE HORSE. 91

made annual incursions into Palestine, and “their camels
were past numbering,” the horse is still unmentioned, and
even their kings rode on camels. ‘“ And Gideon arose and
slew Zeba and Zalmunna” (kings of Midian), “and took away
the ornaments that were on their camels’ necks,” Judges viii.
In the reign of Saul, too, when the tribes beyond Jordan
made war upon four Arabian tribes, they found 50,000
camels, 250,000 sheep, 2000 asses, and 100,000 slaves’;
but still there is no mention of horses, and indeed, in the
whole of Scripture history they are never named in con-
nection with Arabia. Strabo also describes that country
as destitute of these animals, which accounts for the fact
that Solomon obtained his horses from Egypt, and also for
the prohibition in Deuteronomy xvii., “He shall not mul-
tiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to
Egypt to the end that he shall multiply horses.” “It is not
difficult to discover the reasons of this prohibition, namely,
the danger attending an intercourse with Egypt, to the re-
ligious principles of the people, and also that the possession
of cavalry might pave the way to those foreign conquests,
from which Moses designed to keep them back; Palestine,
being mountainous, was better defended by infantry. David
first violated this command by reserving horses sufficient
92 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

for a hundred chariots, after his victory over Hadadezer,
king of Syria (2 Sam. viii.) ; and Solomon multiplied horses,
till he had ‘one thousand and four hundred chariots and
twelve thousand horsemen,’ 1 Kings x.

“The ancient Persians, who were worshippers of the sun,
dedicated to their deity white horses and chariots, which were
used in the sacred processions, and other nations probably
borrowed the practice from that nation. Whether so or
not, we find the same idea of associating a chariot and horses
with the sun, to denote the rapidity of his apparent progress,
common in the poetry and sculpture of classical antiquity.
The sun was supposed to be drawn daily in a chariot by
four wondrous coursers, through the firmament; and we all
recollect the fate of the ambitious Phaéton, who aspired to
guide the swift chariot and control the strong coursers of
the sun. The names of these coursers are preserved,
Kous, Pyrois, Aithon, and Phiegon, which are supposed to
refer to the four divisions of the day*.” The consequences
of Phaéton’s ambition were, that he had no sooner taken the
reins, than the celestial horses turned out of the right path,
and set everything on fire. The Ethiopians were blackened,
it is said, by the near approach of the luminary, and the

* Pictorial Bible.
THE HORSE, 93

charioteer was destroyed by the thunderbolts of Jupiter.
The god of the sun was called Phaéton, or the enlightener.
Horses were anciently sacrificed to the sun in different na-
tions, as their swiftness was supposed to render them an
appropriate offering. There is an allusion to the dedica-
tion or sacrifice of horses to the sun, in 2 Kings xuiii.,
when Josiah “took away the horses that the kings of Judah
had given to the sun, and burned the chariots of the eun
with fire.”

It appears that Solomon established a very profitable
trade in horses with Egypt, disposing of them to the Syrian
and Pheenician kings, who could not obtain these valuable
animals without their passing through Palestine, as the
passage by sea is always expensive and dangerous; he
therefore monopolized the trade, as is apparent from the
following account: “And Solomon had horses brought
out of Egypt, and linen yarn; the king’s merchants re-
ceived the linen yarn at a price. And they fetched up
and brought forth out of Egypta chariot for six hun-
dred shekels of silver, and a horse for an hundred and fifty ;
and so brought they out horses for all the kings of the
Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, by their means”
(2 Chron. i.). The value of a horse, by this computation,
94 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

was from £17. 28. to’ 218. 15s., and the chariots from
£68. 9s. to £75.

In the 89th chapter of Job we find the following magni-
ficent and unrivalled description of the horse :—“ Hast thou
given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with
thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as s grasshopper P
The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley,
and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the
armed men. He mocketh at fear and is not affrighted ;
neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rat-
tleth aguinst him, the glittering spear and the shield. He
swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, neither
believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith
among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar.
off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.” This is
forcible and beautiful even under the disadvantage of trans-
lation, and must be eminently so in the original.

There is a very fine description in Virgil, of which the
following is Sotheby's translation :—

But at the clash of arms, his ear afar
Drinks the deep sound, and vibrates to the war ;
Flames from each nostril roll in gather’d stream,
His quivering limbs with restless motion gleam :
THE HORSE. 95

O’er his right shoulder, floating full and fair,

Sweeps his thick mane, and spreads his pomp of hair:
Swift works his double spine; and earth around
Rings to the solid hoof that wears the ground.”

Antar, the Arabian prince and poet, whose verses, em-
broidered with gold on silk, were hung up at the door of
the Caaba, has also celebrated the praises of this noble
animal; and indeed the Arabians have exhausted the stores
of their fine language, in describing its beauty, strength,
and spirit, For example: “Shedad’s mare was called Jirwet,
whose like was unknown. Kings negotiated with him for
her, but he would not part with her, and would accept no offer
or bribe for her; and thus he used to talk of her in his
verses : ‘Seek not to purchase my horse, for Jirwet is not to
be bought nor borrowed. I am a strong castle on her back ;
and in her bound are glory and greatness. I would not part
with her, were strings of camels to come to me, with their
drivers following them. She flies with the wind without
wings, and tears up the waste and the desert. I will keep
her for the day of calamities, and she will rescue me when
the battle-dust rises.’ And again, at a great feast, where the
conversation turned upon celebrated horses, one said of
Dahis, ‘He startles every one that looks at him ; he is the
96 POPULAR SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

antidote of grief to every one that beholds him; and he is
a strong tower to every one that mounts him*.’”

The ancients did not shoe their horses by nailing iron
plates to the hoofs; they had shoes of leather, gold, or silver,
but enclosing the whole hoof, being tied or bound on, and
probably only used on particular occasions. “Hence the
hardness of the hoof was a very important consideration,
and Xenophon lays much stress on this point, observing,
that the good hoof is hard, hollow, and when struck on the
ground sounds like a cymbal. The necessity for such hard
hoofs in war-horses did not escape Homer, who continually
applies to them the epithet ‘brazen-hoofed t.’ ”

White horses were formerly used in celebrating a triumph
in token of victory. It was also considered a happy omen
to see one, either in reality or in a dream. This is alluded
to in the book of Revelation, ch. vi., “And I saw, and
behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow;
and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth con-
quering and to conquer.”

In Zechariah, ch. xiv., is an allusion to horses’ bells: “In
that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Hox-
NESS UNTO THE Lozp.” The inscription is of course a figu-

* Pictorial Bible. + Ibid.
THE Ass. 97

rative expression, denoting that even the meanest things
were consecrated to the Lord; and with regard to the bells,
it seems that they are still used in western Asia, both on
the camels and horses employed in the caravans, the con-
stant jingling forming a charactenstic feature in an oriental
journey. This is the only purpose for which the orientals
use bells; they are about the size of our common house-
bells, and usually each animal has only one, though some-
times the leader is ornamented with several, which are hung
on the neck.

Asinus.—The Ass. (Plate V. Asinus Hemionus, the
Wild Ass.)

The generic distinctions between this well-known but
frequently ill-used animal, and the horse, are but trifling :
they consist in the greater length of the ears; the tuft at
the end of the tail, which has only very short hair the
greater part of its length; a distinct dorsal line; warts
confined to the fore legs ; and the narrowness of the hoof,
which is better adapted for walking on hard surfaces than
that of its more valued relative. The domestic ass is sup-
posed to be descended from the wild ass, Asinus Hemionue,
called Para in the Scriptures, and thus mentioned in Job
xxxix.: “Who hath sent out the wild ass free, or who hath

H
98 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

loosed the bands of the wild ass?” It inhabits the moun-
tainous deserts of Central Asia, and is still found there in
considerable numbers; it is of a silver-grey colour, with
dark mane and tail, and a broad brown stripe down the
back ; the ears are rather shorter than those of the domestic
race, the legs more slender, and the general appearance
much more symmetrical. The pasture of the wild ass being
on the margin of the sandy deserts, where the temperature
is warm and dry, it is easy to understand the reason the
animal is much superior in Syria, Egypt, Barbary, and the
south of Europe, to the degenerate specimens in England.
Climate has probably had great influence in deteriorating
the species, and this deterioration has induced neglect,
which tends still more to lower this patient, useful animal
in the scale of creation. That the ass must have been a
spirited animal in Syria may be inferred from various pas-
sages of Scripture, and also from Xenophon, who, in de-
scribing the march of the younger Cyrus through Syria,
says, “They then proceeded through Arabia (or, rather,
Mesopotamia), still keeping the Euphrates on their right
hand. This country appeared to the eye a complete flat,
and as smooth as the sea. Of wild creatures the most
numerous were wild asses, which, being swifter of foot than
THE ASS. 99

our horses, would, on gaining ground upon then, stand still
and look round, and when their pursuers got nearly up to
them, they would start off and repeat the same trick.” The
flesh of the wild ass taken in the chase was found to be like
that of the red deer, but more tender.” In Persia the wild
ass was prized above all other animals as an object of chase,
not only from its fleetness, but from the delicacy of its flesh,
which made it a luxury even at the royal table. Many
texts might be cited to prove the opinion held by the an-
cients with regard to its strength and spirit. ‘A wild ass,
used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her
pleasure, in her occasion who can turn her away >” Jere-
miah ii.; and again in ch. xiv., “And the wild asses did
stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like
dragons.”

In warm climates, the ass, though not very fleet, is often
chosen for long journeys, as being less easily tired out, and
needing less refreshment than the horse ; but in the colder
climates of the north it is in general use only for inferior
purposes, and being hardy, healthy, and temperate in its
food, is often a most valuable assistant to the poor, who
would be amply rewarded for increased care and kindness
by a corresponding increase in spirit and docility. Still the
100 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

effects of climate would be felt, and “it is probable that the
diminished size, and increased length and shagginess of the
hair,’which are seen in this and other species of mam- —
malia, when made to reside in countries much colder than
those which are natural to them, are connected with each
other ; and that that portion of the substance and action of
the animal which, in the cold climate, goes to the produc-
tion of the additional covering, would, in a more genial
climate, go to increase the size and flesh of the animal*.”
There is a peculiarity in the ass which distinguishes it
greatly from most domesticated animals, which is its inap-
titude for breaking into varieties, even those of colour.
Of the horse there are innumerable varieties, not merely of
colour, but of size, shape, and spirit, for not only has each
country its peculiar horse, but there are different kinds
adapted to almost every employment, so that the horse
appears particularly pliable to circumstances, whether of
climate or treatment. Many other domesticated animals
{the ox, for instance) are the same, but the ass shows no such
variations: there are trifling changes in colour, or rather
in shades of colour, but nothing more. “ Plastic animals,
which break into varieties adapted to different climates and

* British Cyolopeedi
THE ASS. 101

modes of treatment, may be improved by eulture, so that
the domesticated shall, in the qualities which are desired,
be much better than the wild; but those which, like the
ass, are not so plastic, cannot be improved or even kept up
to their natural state if domesticated. For this reason the
domestic ass is, in all countries, inferior to the wild one;
and though the differences between those of warm and cold
climates be very considerable, they are only indications of
different degrees of deterioration*.”

The first mention of this animal in the Bible occurs in
Genesis xii. 16: “And Pharaoh entreated Abram well for
her sake; and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and
men-servants, and maid-servants, and ske-asses, and camels,”
The difficulty that has been started by some commentators
on this passage is so well explained in the ‘ Pictorial Bible’
that I shall copy it for the benefit of my readers. “When
we find original terms so unlike each other as chamor and
athon, ‘he-ass’ and ‘she-ass,’ we are apt to think that a
different animal must have been meant by athon, such as
the zebra, for example. A species of Zguue so strong, so
fleet and beautiful, in a state of domestication, would always
have merited a distinct allusion, as we see it was customary

* British Cyclopedia.
102 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

to make to the ‘she-ass.’? But the natural fierceness of
the zebra renders it, with a few exceptions, almost incapable
of a regular training. But in that memorable passage from
the 9th chapter of Zechariah we have ‘an ass, the foal of a
she-ass, where the terms chamor and athon occur in the
relation of mother and son: this passage shuts the door
against all farther conjecture, by showing that our trans-
lators have properly rendered the words; besides, in the
Arabic, we find the words atken or aten given to the ass in
general.”

The ass, as well as the horse, was interdicted as food by
Moses, from the fact of their both possessing undivided
hoofs; but during the siege of Samaria by Benhadad, king
of Syria, so fearful a famine raged in the city that “an ass’s
head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver.” Some writers
have attempted to prove that the corn measure, homer, is
intended, and not the ass, Aamer ; but, as the arguments are
not very tenable, this brief allusion will be deemed suffi-
cient. The price was nearly equal to ten pounds of our
money, showing forcibly the melancholy situation of the
besieged town.

The passage in the 5th chapter of Judges, “Speak ye
that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk
THE ASS. 108

by the way,” has been rather a puzzling one to commen-
tators, some supposing that the whiteness referred to the
animals, others to the trappings with which they were deco-
rated. But in reality there is little or no difficulty, for per-
fectly white asses are not uncommon in western Asia, and
as they are generally the finest specimens of their kind, and
very handsome, they are held in great esteem, and sell at
a high price. When let out on hire, too, they are always
more ornamented, their trappings are of gayer colours, the
beads and shells more abundant, and the metal ornaments
more bright ; they are also frequently painted, in spots and
streaks, with the red stains of the henna-plant. If the
Hebrews had the same preference for these white asses as
the modern Asiatics, it may be readily understood that a
kind of distinction was conferred on their riders where
horses were not employed.

The number of asses and other animals’ mentioned as
belonging to different patriarchs, astonish the reader, but
the property in cattle possessed by Arabian Emirs of the
present day, bear no undue proportion to patriarchal wealth.
Ezra mentions two hundred and forty-five mules*, and six

* Mules were much used for riding by kings and persons of distinction
at various periods of Jewish history. The first positive mention of these
104 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

thousand seven hundred and twenty asses; but these be-
longed to moge than one person. In his wars with the
Midianites, Joshua is said to have taken “ threescore and
one thousand asses.” Job possessed five hundred she-asses
before his misfortunes, and twice that number after his
restoration to prosperity. These, with his “seven thou-
sand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred |
yoke of oxen,” might well entitle Job to be called “the
greatest of all the men of the East;” and the whole of
this description of pastoral life bears a great resemblance to
that of an Arabian Emir in the present day, though the
riches of Job greatly surpassed those of a modern Arabian
prince. In the time of the prophet Zechariah we find horses
had become common amongst the Jews, for it was then
considered a mark of humility to ride on an ass, as is inti-
mated by the prophecy, afterwards fulfilled by Christ when
entering Jerusalem: “ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion ;
shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy king cometh
unto thee : he is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding
upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” Thus,

animals is in 2 Samuel xiii: “Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man
gat him upon his mule and fled.” And when Solomon was anointed king
during his father’s life-time, he was mounted on the king’s own mule:
“* Cause Selomon, my son, to ride upon mine own seule.”
THE ASS. 103

the same ideas were then established as are now entertained
in the East concerning the relative dignity of the two ani-
mals. The ass is by no means despised, but much conse-
quence is attached to riding on horseback, and persons even
of moderate means will submit to great discomfort rather
than give up the possession of one or more horses; hence it
is considered a mark of humility and lowliness to use the
humbler animal. In Matthew xxi. is recorded the literal
fulfilment of the foregoing prophecy :—“Then sent Jesus
two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over
against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied,
and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them to me.
And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord
hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of
Sion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting
upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. And the dis-
ciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them. And
brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their
clothes, and they set him thereon.’ The passage here
cited led the Jews to expect that the Messiah would come
riding upon an ass; and they reconciled this with Daniel’s
106 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

description of his “coming with the clouds of heaven,” by
saying that if the Israelites were good he would come with
the clouds of heaven, but if not good, riding on an ass*.

Tt was long thought that there were no representations of
this animal on the monuments of Egypt, but some have re-
cently been discovered.

Oxvun RUMINANTIA.

Cametvs.—The Camel. (Plate V.)

This is a genus of the ruminating animals without horns,
and possessing three kinds of teeth; the upper lip divided;
the neck long and arched; having either one or two pro-
tuberances on the back; the foot broad, expanded, and
elastic, with two small hoofs or toes, adapting the animal
admirably to travelling in the dry, stony region which it
principally inhabits. Its native country is said to extend
from Mauritania to China.

There are two species, embracing several varieties or
races, differing in size, strength, and swiftness; these are
Camelus Bactrianus, the Camel, and C. Dromedarius, the

* Pictorial Bible.
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THE CAMEL. 107

Dromedary. The first-mentioned, having two humps, is
found from Turkistan, the ancient Bactria, to China, that
is, in the north of the region named; it is larger than the
dromedary ; the limbs not so long in proportion ; the muz-
ale larger; the hair of a darker brown; and the movement
usually slower. The Arabian, or single-humped camel, C.
Dromedarius, i3 a native of the southern part of the district ;
its general height is about six feet and a half to the top of
the hump, and to the top of the head, when elevated, rather
less than nine ; the head, however, is usually carried much
lower, as the camel bends its neck considerably.

It is very probable that the camel has long since ceased
to exist in a wild state, as it seems to have been. subdued
by man from the earliest times. Great numbers are raised
in the East, and employed in the trade carried on in the
vicinity of the great deserts; there the camel is inded in-
_ Valuable, for where water is scarce it would be impossible
to use any other beasts of burden. The camel can abstain
from drinking for several days without injury, owing to the
possession of a cavity in the stomach, destined to receive,
and retain unchanged, the necessary supply. Besides this
reservoir of water for the prevention of thirst, the humps
of the camel afford it nutriment when food cannot be
108 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

obtained, being composed of fat, which can be absorbed
into the system when necessary for the subsistence of the
animal.

Endowed with greater strength and activity than most
beasts of burthen, docile and contented with the coarsest
food, the camel is peculiarly adapted to its station. To the
Arabs, and other wanderers of the desert, it affords at once
wealth, subsistence, and many comforts and luxuries; its
milk furnishes them with nutriment; the flesh of the young
animal is one of their greatest delicacies; of the skin they
form tents, or make it into saddles, harness, shields, and
various other articles ; the hair is also valuable. The train-
ing of the young camel begins when it is only a few days’
old, its little limbs being folded under the body, and it is
compelled to remain in this position whilst loaded with a
weight which is increased as the animal gains strength. A
strong camel will carry from eight hundred to a thousand
pounds weight, from thirty to thirty-five miles a day; and
those which are used only for speed, will travel from sixty
to ninety miles. They prefer nettles, thistles, cassia, and
other prickly plants, to the softest herbage.

Camels are first mentioned in the 12th chapter of Genesis,
when Abram was travelling through Egypt with his wife
THE CAMEL. 109

Sarai: they were amongst the gifts which Pharaoh pre-
sented to the patriarch. In the 32nd chapter they are
again spoken of, as part of the possessions of Jacob, when,
returning home from the dwelling of his uncle Laban, he
met Esau and endeavoured to propitiate his offended brother
with presents. “Thirty milch camels, with their colts”
formed a portion of this offering; and a valuable portion,
as the female is much prized on account of the milk, which
then was, as it is now, an important item in the daily
nourishment of Eastern nations. The Arabs drink camels’
milk either fresh or sour; they are partial to it in the latter
state, and it becomes sour sooner than that of most other
animals. Great quantities of camels’ milk are also given
to the Arabian horses, and the foals are fed almost exclu-
sively on it for some time. Burckhardt says, that when the
Bedouins take colts of two or three years old to sell in
Syria, they protest, in order to enhance their value, that
since they have been weaned they have been fed exclusively
on camels’ milk.

This animal was prohibited to be used as food by the
Jews, “because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the
hoof.” Of this latter assertion there is much question, as
the foot is in a certain degree divided; that is, the foot is
110 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

separated distinctly above, though underneath, the division
is limited to the anterior portion of. the foot, the toes being
confined. by the elastic cushion on which thé animal treads.
This renders the division imperfect; but it seems highly
probable that Moses took advantage of the uncertainty, to
raise a barrier between his people and the other descen-
dants of Abraham; for the interdiction of the flesh and
milk of the camel, would in a great degree wean them from
a nomade life, from which it seemed the intention of the
great lawgiver entirely to separate the people under his
charge. The constant use of the milk is said to bring on
disease. The flesh resembles beef, but is coarse-grained,
though palatable when young and well-fed.

In 1 Kings iv. the word “ dromedary” occurs, but the
marginal reading renders the word “mules or swift beasts.”
In the-2 Kings viii. it is recorded that Benhadad, king of
Syria, being sick, sent presents to the prophet Elisha, “ forty
camels’ burden :” this must have been a valuable gift, but
it does not follow that every camel was fully laden, it being
a common practice in the East, to employ a far greater
number of men and animals in conveying a present than
is absolutely required. The load of a camel varies much,
according to circumstances. Burckhardt says, that “the
THE CAMEL. . 111

common Josd of an Arabian camel is from four to five
hundred pounds on a long journey, and from three to four
hundred on a journey of considerable distance. The well-
fed and well-watered Egyptian camels are equal in strength
to the Anadolian; those of the largest size, in Cairo, will
carry three bales of coffee, or fifteen hundredweight, from
the town to the waterside, about three miles distant. From
Cairo to Suez, the same camels will carry ten hundred-
weight, and that space is a journey of three days; but the
average of a camel’s burden may be stated as about six or
eight hundred pounds. The male can support heavier loads
than the female, but the latter bears thirst better, an im-
portant consideration in the East.

The camel and dromedary are not swift animals compared
to many others, and though Jeremiah speaks of the “ swift
dromedary,” he must be considered as comparing it with
other breeds of the same animal. The favourite pace of
camels is a kind of easy amble, and if allowed to persevere
in this, they will carry their riders at the rate of five or six
miles an hour, through an uninterrupted journey of several
days and nights. The best-trained camels cannot continue
a gallop for more than half an hour; a forced trot is not so
contrary to their nature; but in this pace they do not
112 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

exceed twelve miles an hour, which is less expeditious than
a moderately good horse.

That camels were common and much used in ancient
times, may be gathered from various passages of Scripture.
Job is said to have possessed at one time three, and at
another six thousand of these animals: the average price
in western Asia is about ten pounds; so that, allowing
for the difference in the value of money, camels formed an
important item in the property of the patriarch, and were
well worth the long journey taken by the Chaldeans to
secure the prize; probably the animals had been sent into
the desert pastures near the Euphrates, which exposed them
more to hostile attacks*.

The last example we shall notice is that, where Jesus
makes use of the proverbial Eastern expression in cases of
difficulty, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of
a needle.” Lightfoot and others have shown, that to speak
of a camel or other large animal, as an elephant, going
through the eye of a needle, was a proverbial expression,
much used to denote a thing very unusual or very difficult.
Thus, the authors of an edition of the book of Zohar ex-
press the arduous nature of their undertaking, by saying,

* Pictorial Bible.
THE ANTELOPE. 118

“In the name of our God we have seen fit to bring an
elephant through the eye of a needle.” The Koran has
this expression, “‘ Until the camel shall enter the needle’s
eye.” These illustrations are important, to fix the true
force and meaning of the expression; and they show the
error of several Greek transcribers (followed by some trans-
lators), who, not understanding the expression as it stood,
took the liberty of supposing it a mistake, and therefore
substituted “a cable” for “a camel,” producing the read-
ing “It is easier for a cable to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God.”

In many places of Scripture where the dromedary is
mentioned, it is supposed that a finer breed of camel is
meant,—one used principally for riding, and bearing the
same relation to the common camel in the Kast, that a race-
horse and hunter bear to a coach-horse or pack-horse in
England.

Antitorr.—The Antelope. (Plate VIII. Antilope Ara-
bica, the Arabian Antelope.)

The species of this beautiful genus are so numerous, and
differ so much from each other, that it is difficult to give a
description equally applicable to all. It may, however, be

I
114 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

said that they are generally of a graceful and symmetrical
form, remarkable for their swiftness and agility, and of a
restless and timid disposition: their horns, though of many
different forms, are all round and annulated, in some
species straight, in others curved or spiral; in some the
females have no horns, in others these appendages are
found in both sexes. They all possess an acute sense of
smell, their eyes are remarkably bright, and their fleetness
is proverbial. The hair is generally short and smooth, but
some species are furnished with manes on the neck and
shoulders; the ears are long and pointed; the tail short
and tufted at the end.

Antelopes are generally: gregarious: in some species the
herds amount to two or three thousand, while others live
in pairs, or in companies of five or six. These animals
appear to be a connecting link between the goat and deer:
like the former, they do not shed their horns, but in size, de-
licacy of form, colour of the hair, and fleetness, they bear a
striking resemblance to the latter. They principally in-
habit the torrid zone, frequenting cliffs and rocky situations,
or traversing vast wildernesses: many species are found in
Asia, still more in Africa, but only one in Europe, the alp-
loving chamois, and not a single species of the true ante-
THE ANTELOPE. 115

lope has been discovered in America, the so-called prong-
horned antelope of North America (Antilocapra furcifera)
being nearly allied to the goat.

The Gazelle (Antilope Dorcas) is a rather small but very
beautiful species ; the specific name signifies “ bright-eyed,”
and in Arab poetry the eye of the gazelle is the standard
of beauty. This beautiful animal is about two feet high ;
the head and neck finely formed; the eyes large, dark, and
expressive; the hair on the back is of a delicate fawn-
colour, with a brown band on the sides, the under part is
white; the horns are ornamented by twelve or fourteen
rings, and diverge like the horns of an ancient lyre, in the
female they are smaller; the ndse is streaked with dark
brown, and there is a white line extending from each horn
over the eye, and down the side of the face. This elegant
creature is supposed to be alluded to, as the roebuck, in
Deuteronomy xii. and 1 Kings iv.; as the wild roe, in
2 Samuel ii., and again in the Song of Solomon. It is
very common in northern Africa and western Asia, and it
was an important advantage to the Israelites, that its use
as food was not interdicted to them.

Professor Paxton says, “The lofty mountains of Syria,
Amana, Lebanon, and Carmel, swarmed with these animals,
116 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

which, descending into the plains to graze on the cultivated
fields, invited the Israelites to the healthful exercise of the
chase, and supplied their tables with a species of food
equally abundant and agreeable.”

In Proverbs the gazelle is mentioned as the “pleasant
roe;” and it is interesting to observe that, “ whenever in
Scripture a comparison drawn from it is applied to man, it is
with reference to its agility and speed, but when to woman
the comparison regards its graceful form, timidity, and gen-
tleness. This is precisely the same among the modern
orientals, with whom in fact the gazelle and the monkey
represent the extremes of beauty and ugliness.” The Arabs
express a woman’s beauty by saying she has the eyes of a
gazelle; the burden of their love-songs is the gazelle’s eyes,
and it is to this creature they invariably compare their
mistresses, when they wish to give in one word: the idea of
perfect beauty. These gazelles are indeed very pretty
creatures, and there is a certain innocent fear about them
that may well be compared to the modesty and bashfulness
of a young girl*.”

The Aart and hind, which are so often named in the dif-
. ferent books of Scripture, were probably general names for
| * Pictorial Bible.
THE ANTELOPE. 117

all animals of the antelope kind. Thus, in Psalm xlii., “ As
the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul
after thee, O God,” the royal Psalmist in all probability did
not intend to refer to any particular species, but spoke of
the well-known habit of the whole genus, as the hart is
naturally of a hot nature, suffering much from thirst in
oriental regions, and therefore seeking the fountain with the
most intense desire. “The hart or hind was an emblem of
double signification. It was a type of solitude, and of
purity of life, and was also a type of piety and religious
aspiration, adopted from the forty-second Psalm, ‘Like as
the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul
after thee, O God*.’”

The gazelle of the Levant (Antilope Arabica) is distin-
guished from 4. Dorcas by a still more elegant form, and
by its darker colour, and probably, as one of the common
species of the country, frequently gave rise to the beautiful
comparisons so abundant in Hebrew poetry.

The Fallow Deer (Antilope Dama), so well known as an
ornament to our parks, was originally a native of Barbary.
It is smaller than the stag, of a dark-brown colour in winter,
but in the summer, bay, spotted with white; the legs are

* Mrs. Jameson’s ‘ Legendary Art.’
118 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

long; the neck arched; the horns are flattened and toothed
behind, whence it is called by the ancients platyceros, the
flat-horned deer. This species is mentioned in 1 Kings iv.,
in speaking of Solomon’s provisions for one day, in con-
nection with roebucks and hearts, 4. Dorcas and probably
A. Arabica.

Antilope Gazella (Plate VI. the “ Wild Ox,” or Oryx).—
The Septuagint supposes this to be the animal intended |
by the “ wild ox” of Deuteronomy xiv. “It is distinguished
by the length and straightness of the horns, a circumstance
which seems to be pointed at in the etymology of the
Greek name.” It is a native of northern Africa, about five
feet in length, and little more than three feet in height at
the shoulder ; the horns are nearly straight, and often more
than two feet long, black and slightly annulated: the animal
uses them like spears, and will even dart upon the lion
before he can make his fatal spring. The colour of the
animal is reddish-grey, and white beneath, with bands of
black extending from the head, down the throat io the
fore legs, which they encircle, then passing along the sides
the hind legs are ornamented by them in the same manner.
The hunting of the “wild ox” is said to be dangerous, for
when wounded, it will turn upon the hunters with great
 

Le)
Ls

“ta
THE GIRAFFE. 119

boldness, and the sharp horns are formidable weapons. This
animal is often represented on the monuments of Nubia and
Egypt.

The “ pygarg ” mentioned in the 14th chapter of Deute-
ronomy, and there only, is generally supposed to be a species
of antelope, though the marginal reading renders it “ bison,”
for which, however, there seems to be no other authority
than the similarity of the name to that of the original, “ di-
shon.” Several old authors mention an animal called pygar-
gus: Herodotus names it in a list of Libyan quadrupeds,
Pliny, as a kind of antelope, and Zllian, as a quadruped of
timid character. The Greek name seems to denote an
animal having its hinder parts white; and Bochart finds a
great affinity between the African lidmee, or the strepsicorus
and addace of the ancients, and the “ diskon,”’ which our
translators render “pygarg” after the Septuagint and Vul-
gate. He says that the ddmee has the white hinder parts
which the name pygarg requires, and that addace has some
resemblance to the Hebrew name.

CameLoparpatis Grrarra.—The Camelopard. (Plate
VIIL.)

The Zemer, translated chamois in the 14th chapter of
Deuteronomy, is very generally supposed to mean the giraffe,
120 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

or camelopard, as the chamois is not met with so far south
as Egypt and Palestine, and the Jews had probably many
opportunities of becoming acquainted with the giraffe while
in Egypt, as had also the writers of the Septuagint version,
for they resided also in that country.

This remarkable animal, which in general structure is
very nearly allied to the deer tribe, has also points of resem-
blance with the antelope and camel. “ If height alone con-
stituted precedency among quadrupeds, the giraffe, as Le
Vaillant justly observes, must hold the first rank. The
enormous apparent length of the fore legs, and its long
tapering neck, must strike every one at the first glance;
while its small and elevated head, its large and brilliant
eye, its mild aspect, and the whole conéour of the animal,
differing from all others, cannot fail to excite admiration ;
for notwithstanding the unusual proportions of the limbs,
its general form is not merely elegant, but highly pic-
turesque*.””

The giraffe measures from fourteen to seventeen feet to
the top of the head, the females being smaller; at first sight
the fore legs appear nearly twice the length of the hind, but
this arises from the great height of the shoulders; the tail

* Maunder’s Treasury.
THE GIRAFFE. 121

is of moderate length, tapering towards the end, and ter-
minating in a tuft of long hair; the horns differ much in
form and texture from those of other animals, consisting of
a porous bony substance; they are about three inches long,
and are placed just above the ears, a protuberance also rises
on the middle of the forehead, between the eyes ; the neck
has a short stiff mane. The colour of the giraffe is a light
fawn, with numerous large dark spots, less regularly placed
on the sides, than on the neck and shoulders.

The giraffe is destined to feed on the foliage and young
shoots of trees, at a far greater height than any other ani-
mal can reach; and for this purpose it is provided, in ad-
dition to its long neck, with an elongated prehensile tongue,
with which it lays hold of young and tender branches, and
draws them into its mouth; when bending its head to the
ground, which is rarely done except for the purpose of
drinking, the giraffe is obliged to stretch its fore legs widely
apart, and then bend its neck in a semicircular form. When
attacked, the giraffe defends itself by striking powerfully
with its feet, and even the lion is often successfully re-
pulsed ; the horns too, short as they are, form by no means
insignificant weapons: the female at the Zoological Gardens
once, in sport, drove her horns through an inch board.
122 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Their pace is extremely rapid, but cannot be maintained for
a long period.

Two varieties of this singular animal are known, one a
native of Nubia, Abyssinia, and the neighbouring districts,
the other found in South Africa. The giraffe is frequently
figured on Egyptian monuments as a beast of chase, and was,
therefore, probably familiar in some degree to the Hebrews.

Carra.—The Goat. (Plate VII. Capra Mambrica, and
C. Ibex.)

The distinguishing characters of the genus Capra are,
that the horns are hollow, turned upwards, and with the
surface annulated ; there are eight cutting teeth in the lower
jaw, and none in the upper; the male generally has a beard.
Buffon says, “The goat is superior to the sheep, both in
sentiment and dexterity. He approaches man spontaneously,
and is easily familiarized. He is sensible of caresses, and
capable of a considerable degree of attachment. He is
stronger, lighter, more agile, and less timid than the sheep ;
he is a sprightly, capricious, and wandering. animal; it is
with much difficulty that he can be confined, and he loves
to retire into solitude, and to climb, stand, and even sleep on .
rugged and lofty eminences. He is robust and easily nou-
rished, eating almost every herb, and injured by very few.”
Plate VIL.

 

Wid Goats.

18t Samuel 24.2.

Deuteronomy, 14.5.
THE GOAT. 128

The original stock of the common goat (Capra Hircus)
like that of other animals early domesticated by man, can-
not be distinctly traced; Mr. Bell, in his ‘ History of British
Quadrupeds,’ says, “ Most modern zoologists have leaned to
the belief that the Ayagrus, or wild goat of the mountains
of Caucasus and of Persia, is the true original stock, and it
is worthy of remark, that the horns of the Persian domestic
goat, though smaller, are similar in form to those of the

- Aigagrus.”

“The condition of the goat in some parts of our own
islands,” says the same writer, “is much more wild than
that of any other of our domestic animals. In the moun-
tains of Wales especially, the wild goat roams over the most
inaccessible parts of the mountains and rocks, without the
slightest appearance of domestication ; it is a hardy, active,
and powerful animal, capable of maintaining its footing on
the smallest point on which its feet can possibly rest, and
of taking considerable leaps, with the utmost certainty of
alighting safely, although the spot which it desires to attain
be perhaps but the rugged point or ledge of a precipice. In
the mountain ranges of Europe, on the Alps and Pyrenees,
the goat is found at a great elevation, approaching as near
the line of perpetual snow as it can find the scanty means
124 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

of subsistence, and it feeds on many plants which to other
ruminants are distasteful and even deleterious; thus hem-
lock, henbane, and Digitalis are eaten by it with impunity,
and even the acrid Euphorbia is not rejected.”

The milk of the goat is very sweet and nutritious.
Formerly the skin was considered a most useful article of
clothing, and it is still manufactured into Turkey and Mo-
rocco leather; that of the kid forms the softest and most
suitable material for gloves and other articles. The usual
colour of the domestic goat is black and white, or a pale
reddish-brown.

The common goat inhabits most parts of the world, and
will endure all climates, from Norway to the hottest parts
of Africa and ‘India. The Cashmere goat produces a fine
wool close to the skin, which is made into the celebrated
and costly shawls for which the Asiatics have so long been
famous; and from the hair of the Angora goat the finest
camlets are manufactured. A race found in Upper Egypt
has the hair very short, the forehead very round, and the
lower jaw projecting beyond the upper; those of Guinea
are very small, and have the horns turned back. The Syrian
goat, of which there are several varieties, is remarkable for
the great length of its ears, which are said in some cases to
THE GOAT. 125

touch the ground when the animal is feeding. These animals
are mentioned very early in Scripture—in the 15th chapter
of Genesis, and again in Exodus xxvi., where we find their
hair was used for making the curtains of the tabernacle :
“Thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair, to be a cover-
ing upon the tabernacle, eleven curtains shalt thou make.”
Cloth made of goats’ hair forms the usual covering for the
tents of the Bedouin Arabs to this day, and it still continues
to be spun and wove at home by the women.

The “ wild goat,” akko of Deuteronomy xiv., is considered
to refer to the Capra Ibex (Plate VII.). This creature is
remarkable for its sweeping pair of horns, and an additional
coat of long shaggy hair, which forms its winter suit. Like
the goat, of which it is a species, it frequents the highest
ridges of the mountainous regions throughout Europe and
Asia, especially in the western parts of the latter. The
horns sometimes measure more than four feet in length, and
are knotted in a series of elevated rings. Its colour is
greyish-yellow above, a dull white below, with a black
stripe on the ridge of the back, and a brown band along
the flanks*.

“Tn 1 Samuel xxiv., Saul is said to ‘seek David and

* Pictorial Bible.
126 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.’ The original
word is yeatlim, and probably some animal of the goat kind
is intended, but of course no species can be identified. The
name is derived from the verb a/ah, which signifies to ascend
or mount up; and which expressively refers to the distin-
guishing characteristic in the habits of these animals, which
impels them to leave the valleys and the plains, to ascend
the rocks, and rejoice upon the mountains*.”

It seems probable that the Capra Mambrica (Plate VIL.),
which, with some variations, is common to Egypt, Syria, and
other parts of the Kast, is the animal here and elsewhere
alluded to, and it is not unlikely that it derives its specific
name from the mountains of Mamre, for it was among these
mountains that this “rock of the wild goats” occurred.
The Capra Mambrica is chiefly distinguished by its long and
pendulous ears; horns arching backward, of a brownish-ash
colour; the general colour of the hair in the male is grey-
ish-brown, with a dark line along the back, and a black tail ;
the front of the head blackish, the beard and long hair on
the throat are reddish-brown. The female is smaller than
the male, and paler in colour.

The goat is frequently alluded to in the various books of

* Pictorial Bible.
THE GOAT. 127

Scripture, and, indeed, “ under the Jewish rituals the goat
was an important animal, and used as the appropriate sym-
bol of atonement in the splendid rites ordained by the
Supreme Lawgiver himself*.” Both the sheep and goat
make an important figure in the mythology of ancient
nations. Pan, the god of shepherds, had the attributes of
a goat; the Libyan Jupiter was distinguished by having
the horns of a ram; the Algis, or shield of Minerva and
of Jupiter, was originally a goat-skin; the goat was thus
connected with supreme power and wisdom in the persons
of these divinities, which shows the estimation in which the
character of the animal was held. The skin of the goat
seems to have been very early used for clothing, and a kind
of felt made from the hair, stiffened with gum, was proof
both against the weather and the weapons of an enemy.
‘¢The war-tunics of the Cimbri, which, in their wars with
Marius, are represented as being such strong defences, were
of this material; and the Roman auxiliaries had winter
dresses of the same in Britain and all the other colder
provinces of the empire. We have evidence of the early
domestication of the goat in the fact that all the Celtic
tribes, which are justly regarded as the most ancient races

* British Cyclopedia.
128 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

of many parts of Europe, bred and cultivated goats long
before the introduction of sheep. In the Highlands of
Scotland and Wales, the goat was the original domestic
animal; and in both countries there are many districts
called by the name of Gower, which is Celtic for goat; and
many families have the same surname. All these circum-
stances render the history of the goat a highly interesting
one*,”

Ovis.—The Sheep. (Plate IX. Asiatic Sheep.)

The sheep differs so slightly in anatomical structure from
the goat, that both are united in one genus by some natu-
ralists. The principal differences consist in the sheep having
no beard, and in the horns being directed backward in the
first place, and then more or less spirally forward. “It is
generally imagined that the primitive stock may be traced
to the wild sheep of Sardinia and Corsica, the mouffon, or
to the argalt of Asia, though some naturalists suppose these
animals to be the descendants of those that have escaped
the dominion of man; however this may be, it is certain
that the coat of these wild sheep possesses the essential
character of wool, though consisting of coarse and long
hair; that is, from its peculiar scaly surface, it is capable

* British Cyclopedia.
Plate IX,

 

Asiatic Sheep.
Genesis 4.2.
THE SHEEP. - 129

of being felted. “Cloth and woollen goods are made from
wool possessing this property; the wool is carded, spun,
and woven, and then being put into the fulling-mill, the
process of felting takes place; the strokes of the mill make
the fibres cohere, the piece subjected to the operation con-
tracts in length and breadth, and its texture becomes more
compact and uniform. ‘This process is essential to the
beauty and strength of woollen cloth, but the long wool, of
which stuffs and worsted goods are made, is deprived of its
felting properties. This is done by passing the wool
through heated iron’ combs, which takes away the lamins,
or feathery part of the wool, and approximates a to the
nature of silk or cotton*.”

Sheep are amongst the most useful of our domestic ani-
mals: they supply us with nourishing food, furnish one of
the principal materials for clothing, and the dressed skin is
also used for different parts of our apparel, and for covering
books; the milk is very thick and rich, and the manure
yielded is most profitable to the farmer. “There pro-
bably is not a species amongst all our domestic animals,”
says Mr. Bell, “which, in its historical associations, is so
interesting as the sheep. Its early domestication, its em-

* M‘Calloch.
K
1380 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

ployment as the subject of the first sacrifices, its typical
character as an offering of atonement, its importance as
forming the principal wealth of the early patriarchs, its
various connection, in short, with the political, the religious,
and the domestic customs of those primitive magnates of
the Jewish nation, are all of them subjects forming ample
food for deep and delightful reflection. The relation which
existed between the patriarchal shepherds and their flocks
was, indeed, of so intimate and even affectionate a nature
as to have afforded the subject of many of the most beau-
tifal and touching parables and moral illustrations in the
Sacred Writings. It is scarcely necessary to refer to the
unequalled appeal of Nathan to David, to the still higher
and prophetic allusion to the character of the Messiah, or
to the sublime illustration of the beneficence of the ‘great
Shepherd of Israel,’ in the beautiful and well-known pastoral
psalm.” . /

The varieties of the sheep are very numerous, even in
England, many counties having peculiar breeds noted for
their valuable qualities ; and the South Down, which take
their name from a tract of downs extending through Sussex,
Surrey, and Kent, are noted for the peculiar goodness of
their flesh : they have black heads and legs.
THE SHEEP. 131

Of the foreign varieties, the most celebrated are the
Many-horned Sheep (Ovis polycerata), found in Iceland and
the north of Russie, which greatly resembles the domestic
sheep in form, but is larger ; the wool is long, smooth, of a
hairy nature and a dark brown colour, under which is a
fine, short, and soft kind of wool or fur.

The Cretan Sheep (Ovis strepsicerus) is found principally
in Crete, but is kept in some parts of Europe for the singu-
larity of its appearance, the horns being very large, long,
and spiral, those of the male upright, of the female at right
angles to the head.

A variety met with in the deserts of Tartary have long
legs, horns in the male, black heads, large pendent ears,
and the tail so enveloped in fat as to be scarcely visible, the
parts on each side swelling out considerably. The broad-
tailed sheep (Ovis laticauda) is common. in Tartary, Arabia,
Persia, Syria, and Egypt, and is remarkable for its enormous
tail, which often weighs between ten and twenty pounds:
the upper part is covered with wool, underneath it is quite
bare ; the fat of which it is composed is esteemed a great
delicacy.

The African Sheep (Ovis Guimeensis) is an inhabitant of
all tropical countries, both in Africa and the East. It is
182 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

large; the skin rough and hairy; the horns short; the ears
long and pendent; it has a long mane, reaching below the
neck, and a kind of dewlap under the chin.

The Syrian Sheep, with its pendent ears and large tail,
must be looked upon as the animal mentioned in the Bible;
it is first named in the 4th chapter of Genesis, in speaking
of Abel as a “keeper of sheep;” and again, “He brought
the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.” The fat
may refer more particularly to the tail, which is especially
alluded to in the law regarding the peace-offering: or
“the same word in Hebrew, differently pointed, means milk
as well as fat. Josephus expressly says it was milk; and
Grotius and others think that milk was part of the offer-
ing. Milk used to be offered in sacrifice by the ancient
Egyptians*.”

Sheep and lambs are constantly mentioned as used in
the Jewish sacrifices; and, indeed, we never read of any
other animals than oxen, sheep, and goats, among quadru-
peds, being devoted to this purpose, thus excluding all
animals not used for food, amongst domestic quadrupeds,
and all wild beasts. This formed one great distinction
between the offerings of the Hebrews and of other ancient

* Pictorial Bible.
THE SHEEP. 138

nations ; for horses were sacrificed to the sun, hogs to Ceres,
dogs to Hecate, and wolves to Mars; camels also were sacri-
ficed by the Arabians. Fish are never named as offerings at
the altar.

The prevalence of this practice in all nations has given
rise to much discussion, and various opinions are held ‘as
to its origin, but the subject is involved in too much ob-
scurity to be profitably discussed in a work of this nature.
Its antiquity is shown in the history of Abel, Noah, and
the other Hebrew patriarchs ; its universality, by the records
of all ancient nations, and also by reference to existing
usages among different people in various parts of the world :
thus the laws of Moses on this subject were not by any
means singular or peculiar, but only modifications of existing
and well-known customs. In Egypt, where the Israelites
had so long sojourned, white bulls, without a single black
hair, were sacrificed to Apis, and, after minute examination
by the priest, were sealed by him, to testify their fitness for
the purpose of an offering. The sacrifices of the Hebrews
were also commanded to be “ without blemish” and “ with-
out spot.” Abraham offered “a ram of three years old.”
Aaron also offered a “ram for a burnt-offering.” Balak,
by command of Balaam, offered “seven bullocks and seven
134 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

”

rams.” These and many other passages show that the
latter animals were much used for the sacrifices; lambs are
also very frequently mentioned, as “seven lambs without
blemish of the first year” for a burnt-offering ; and “two
lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings.”
Examples might be multiplied, but it is unnecessary. The
29th chapter of Exodus gives ample directions for the
ceremonies proper at the sacrifice of both bullocks and
rams, and must be familiar to the Biblical student, as well
as many others in which particular reference is made to
these animals. The Hebrew word se, generally translated
“lamb,” is indifferently used for the young of the sheep or
goat.

Sheep were amongst the animals allowed as food to the
Hebrews ; their skins were also early brought into common
use, as “rams skins dyed red” are mentioned in Exodus
xxxv., with other offerings made for the adornment of the
tabernacle; and “rams’ horns” were used as musical in-
struments in the time of Joshua (und probably before that
period), as “trumpets of rams’ horns” were employed at
the siege of Jericho, at least according to the Rabbins;
though, as this is the only instance in which the word jobe/
denotes a ram, there seems to be some doubt thrown upon
THE SHEEP. 185

it; they say that it is an Arabic word for ram, though the
modern Arabians do not use the word in that sense. That
a horn of some kind was intended seems very certain, and
that of the ram appears to be as probable as any other. In
Exodus xix. the same word is employed to denote the instru-
ment used when the jubilee was proclaimed.

Numerous texts might be cited in proof that the practice
of keeping sheep was very prevalent among the Hebrews
in the patriarchal ages. A few will suffice. David was a
keeper of sheep, as related in 1 Samuel xvi. In Nathan’s
beautiful parable he relates that “the rich man had exceed-
ing many flocks and herds,” the poor man also had his
“one little ewe-lamb ;” and, though only a fiction, it shows
that the custom of keeping sheep was a common one. In
2 Kings iii. it is said that “Mesha, king of Moab, was a
sheep-master, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hun-
dred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with
the wool,” which shows that tribute and taxes were paid in
this kind of produce, and that even the wealth of kings
consisted much in live-stock. This is not by any means
peculiar either to the time or country, for even at this
period the king of Persia receives part of his tribute in live-
stock and raw produce; and that the same custom prevailed
186 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

in former times may be gathered from Strabo, who says that
the Cappadocians paid an annual tribute to the kings of
~ Persia of 1500 horses, 2000 mules, and 50,000 sheep.

In 1 Chronicles iv. the account of the descendants of
Judah ends in the following manner, showing the great im-
portance attached to the possession of good pasturage :—
“These mentioned by their names were princes in their
families: and the house of their fathers increased greatly.
And they went to the entrance of Gedor, even unto the east:
side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks ; and they
found fat pasture and good; and the land was wide, and
quiet, and peaceable, for they of Ham had dwelt there of
old. And these written by name came in the days of
Hezekiah, king of Judah, and smote their tents, and the
habitations that were found there, and destroyed them
utterly unto this day, and dwelt in their room, decauee there
was pasture there for their flocks.”

David bestowed particular attention on his flocks and
herds ; after he became king they were doubtless one great
source of his revenue; and we find in 1 Chronicles xxvii.
that they were dispersed in various valleys and plains of
the kingdom, and also sent to the deserts of the south and.
east, under the guidance of Arabian pastors; Obil, an
THE SHEEP. 187

Ishmaelite, being over the camels, and Jaziz, the Hagerite,
over the flocks.

- With regard to the management of sheep in the Kast, it
will be interesting to trace both the similarity that exists to
our own usages, and the points of difference cansed by
variety of climate and increased civilization. In many
parts of the Bible, where the word “‘sheepfold” is used,
“pasture” would be preferable, as the Hebrews did not
usually fold their flocks at night; but when in a neighbour-
hood where they considered themselves and their c in-
danger from the attacks of nomades or wild beasts, they
drove them either into caves, or, where these were wanting,
into enclosures erected for the purpose ; and this might be
very properly translated “‘sheepfold” or “sheepcote,” as in
2 Samuel vii. and 1 Chronicles xvii. When no danger is
feared, the sheep are only folded in the East when collected
for the purpose of being shorn. In Solomon’s Song is a
reference to sheep-washing, so that in this particular the
ancient custom was analogous to that of the present day:
“Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn,
which came up from the washing.” In the 10th chapter
of John are several beautiful allusions to sheep and shep-
herds, illustrating many of the pastoral customs of the time,
188 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

some of which exist in the present day: in the 3rd verse
- 1s the following expression, “He calleth his own sheep by
name.” “From this it would seem that the Jews, like the
Arabians, gave names to their sheep, by which they called
them to drink or to be milked. This necessarily implies
that the shepherd could distinguish individually the sheep
of his flock, and, however strange this may seem, it is pos-
sible and true, for it is known that shepherds, particularly
in the East, can and do thus distinguish the individuals in
even very large flocks. The pastoral custom here alluded
to, of giving names for distinction to particular sheep, was
by no means confined to the Hast. It was also usual
among the shepherds of Greece*.”

In the fourth verse it is said, “And when he putteth
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep
follow him, for they know his voice.” ‘The word ren-
dered ‘voice’ has a much wider meaning, being applicable
to any kind of sound, and when thus applied to a shepherd
leading his flock, may mean not only a call in the natural
voice, but any call, such as by a pipe or whistle: and the
shepherd is said to lead his flock, not to drive it, as our
own habits might lead us to suspect. The same custom is

* Pictorial Bible.
THE SHEEP. 189

still observed in the Hast and in some parts of Europe, in
application to herds as well as flocks. It exists in Spain,
having probably been introduced by the Arabs; and is
found also in Russia, in the villages of which, we have
often seen, of a morning, a peasant marching through the
street playing on a pipe, on hearing which, the animals
came forth from their various cottage homesteads, following
him to the pasture. They are brought home in the even-
ing, and called to be milked in the same manner*.” In
Italy, those who have the care of swine always go Jdefore
them, and from time to time sound a horn. Polybius says,
that in the island of Corsica the herds and flocks were
called together by the sound of a trampet, and that they
never mistook one shepherd for another, or failed to dis-
tinguish the peculiar sound of their own guide. This is
a striking illustration of the next verse: “And a stranger
will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know
not the voice of strangers.” The whole of this chapter
forms a very interesting similitude between a good shep-
herd who would even “lay down his life for the sheep”
under his care, and that good shepherd who would have
led his people into the “pleasant pastures” of goodness,
* Pictorial Bible.
140 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

charity, meekness, and love, but they “would not,” and
refused to hear his voice, or follow him.

Another chapter, which will be read by the student with
pleasure, is the 34th of Ezekiel, where, under the semblance
of shepherds, a deep reproach is conveyed to the rulers of
the people for their neglect of the sheep committed to their
care. David’s beautiful Psalm, using the same metaphor,
will occur to most readers :—‘The Lord is my shepherd ;
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He re-
storeth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteous-
ness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for
thon art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of my
enemies ; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth
over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
for ever.”

‘The lamb, in Christian art, is the peculiar emblem of the
Redeemer, as the sacrifice without blemish; in this sense it
is given as an attribute to John the Baptist. The lamb is
also the general emblem of innocence, meekness, and mo-
  

oe reesere

 

 

is

a
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THE Ox. 141

‘desty ; in this sense it is given to St. Agnes, of whom
Massillon said so beautifully, ‘Peu de pudeur ov il n’y a pas
de religion, peu de religion od il n’y a pas de pudeur*.’ ”

Bos.—The Ox. (Plate VI. the Syrian Ox.)

Cattle are generally distinguished as having smooth
hollow horns, directed sideways, and then curving upwards
or forwards; the body is of a thick and heavy form, and
the tail long, terminated by a tuft of hair. Mr. Bell, in
his ‘ History of British Quadrupeds,’ says, ‘Of all the ani-
mals which have been reduced into the immediate service
of man, the ox is, without exception, that to which he is
most indebted for the variety and extent of its means of
usefulness. The universal utility of the animal appears to
have been very soon detected, and we find, consequently,
that its domestication constituted one of the earliest
triumphs of human authority over the natural instincts and
habits of the brute creation. That this event took place
before the flood, and induced, even then, that propensity to
a pastoral life, which has ever been characteristic of man
in his less cultivated state, wherever the climate was such
as to encourage or permit it, we have the Sacred Writings
to attest ; for we are told that Jabel, the son of Lamech,

, * Mrs. Jameson’s ‘Legendary Art,’
142 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

was the father, or ancestor, ‘of such as live in tents, and of
such as have cattle.’ From the time when the family of
Noah issued from the ark, in every quarter of the earth
which his varied and multitudinous. descendants have cul-
tivated, the ox has been reared, as the most useful and im-
portant aid to the necessities of mankind.”

Tt has been generally thought that domestic cattle are
descended from the Indian and European buffalo, Boe Bu-
balus, though some naturalists are of opinion that the aur-
ochs, or wild cattle of Germany and Poland, have more
claim to this distinction. Baron Cuvier differs from both
these suppositions, and imagines that the present race of
cattle are identical with a species which is no longer to be
found in a wild state, but, like the camel, has been for
ages subjected to the power of man. Fossil remains of
this animal have been discovered, and the comparison of
these remaizis with the skeleton of the aurochs, the buffalo,
and the domestic ox, gave rise to the opinion of this cele-

brated naturalist.

' ‘There are many varieties of this useful animal in England
and other countries: in the islands and Highlands of Scot-
land they are small, and generally black; the Devonshire,
Leicestershire, and Alderney cattle are all noted for their
THE OX. 148

‘ peculiar qualities. The wild cattle which formerly. inha-
bited the great Caledonian forest, are now reduced to a
small number at Chillingham Park, Cadzowe, near Hawil-
ton, etc. They are cream-coloured, with part of the ear
red, the horns white, with black tips, of a fine form and
bent upwards; some of the bulls have a thin upright mane.
The probable history of these creatures seems to be “that
. the same species of wild cattle, prevalent in Scotland, had
extended to the northern districts of England; that in pro-
portion as population and culture advanced, they became
here, as in Scotland, the subjects of almost universal
slaughter, and that a few of those that escaped had found
sanctuary in the great wood at Chillingham*.” Another
supposition is, that after the enclosure of the park at Chil-
lingham, they had been brought and located there, as a
relic of the ancient Caledonian cattle.

The Cape Ox (Bos Caffer) is superior in size and in
strength to the largest English specimen. Its colour is
deep brown, the hair on the head and breast being very
long; from the hind part of the head to the middle of the
back is a loose black mane, and the end of the tail is co-
vered with long hair; the horns are black, very broad at

* Annals of Natural History.
144 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the base, spreading over the head, then becoming taper,
and bending down on each side of the neck; the space
between the tips is sometimes as much as five feet; the
ears are long and somewhat pendulous. The Cape ox is
a most powerful and fierce animal; it is found in large
herds in the interior of South Africa.

The Jungle Ox (Bos frontalis) is a domestic race in the
mountain districts of India; it resembles our domestic ox,
but has the horns flattened and more or less upright.

The Brahminy bull (Bos Indicus), which is held sacred
in many parts of India, is of a light grey colour, sometimes
varying to milk-white, and in size ranging from that of an
ordinary bull to a Shetland pony. The limbs are elegantly
formed, the horns are short, the ears long and pendulous,
and nearly all are distinguished by a hump.

Cattle are mentioned in the 1st chapter of Genesis, and
probably include all the ruminant animals, if not all those
of a herbivorous nature. In the 4th chapter it is said that
Jabel, the son of Lamech, “ was the father of such as dwell
in tents, and of such as have cattle;” showing that this
useful creature was already domesticated. The expression
“he was the father” was common among the Jews, and
meant that the person so designated was remarkable for the
THE OX. 145

circumstance mentioned: “thus, the first of the Arabian
caliphs is known as Aéu-bekr, ‘the father of the girl ;’ that
is, of Ayeshah, the wife of Mohammed. The same practice
extends to the domestics of a large household, each of
whom is called the father of that department of duty en-
trusted to him*.”

Cattle are frequently named in the early chapters of
Genesis, and in the 12th are included in the presents given
by Pharaoh to Abraham, when this patriarch was journey-
ing through Egypt with his wife Sarah. In the Hebrew
the words which denote an “ox” and “the morning”
are very nearly alike; this similarity perhaps arose from a
fancied resemblance between the horned front of the ani-
mal, and the rays of the sun when about to emerge from
below the horizon. Soon after this event Abraham is said
to be “very rich in cattle,” ch. xiii., and the Arab tribes,
which claim to be descended from the patriarch, still reckon
their wealth principally by the number of their flocks and
herds.

Tn the notes to the ‘ Pictorial Bible,’ from which so much
information has been already gleaned, is an interesting ex-
planation of the following verse in the 18th chapter: “And

* Pictorial Bible.
L
146 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and
good, and gave it unto a young man, and he hasted to
dress it.” ‘The orientals consume a very small quantity
of animal food; and the nomades, with their ample flocks
and herds, less than other orientals. There was probably
not a morsel of meat in Abraham’s camp in any shape
whatever. Their usual fare consists of flour made into a
paste, and boiled with sour camels’ milk; and the Arabs
never indulge in animal food and other luxuries, but on
the occasion of some great festival, or on the arrival of a
stranger, when a kid or lamb is killed.” Sometimes this
is dressed whole, but when pressed for time, as on this
occasion, the meat is cut into small pieces, and either boiled
or put on skewers and broiled over the fire. It appears
strange to dress meat so immediately after the animal is
killed; but this is a universal custom in the East, and no
doubt originated in the heat of the climate. Butter and
milk are both mentioned here as common articles of food,
and, if we may judge by the present habits of the Arabs,
were used in astonishing profusion. Burckhardt mentions,
that those who can afford such a luxury, swallow every
morning a cupfull of butter in a liquid state: all Arab
food swims in this substance; and some tribes even wel-
THE OX. 147

come a stranger by pouring melted butter on his head.
Our way of spreading it thinly on bread is unknown to
the Arabs; and when they do eat it with bread, the bread
forms but a small item in the repast, so that it might, with
propriety, be called butter and bread, rather than, as with
us, bread and butter.

Milk, in its various forms, is a great article of diet with
the Arabs and other pastoral tribes, many living almost
entirely on dates and milk ; sweet milk is handed round after
every meal, and buttermilk is also much used. Sour milk
mixed with water is a favourite beverage with the western
Asiatics, and is said to be really refreshing in warm climates.
Excellent cream is made by the usual process. “From the
frequent mention which is made of milk, milk meals must
have been very common among the Hebrews, who seem to
have been always, even in their settled state, more a pastoral
than an agricultural people. In Proverbs xxvii., goats’
milk is mentioned as a principal article of diet in a Hebrew
household. The milk of goats is perhaps there mentioned,
as being of the best quality. It is decidedly so considered
in the East; the Arabs drink camels’ milk, but all their
butter and cheese is made with that of goats and sheep,
which are milked by the women every morning before day-
148 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

break. Cows’ milk is held in comparatively little esteem,
and is in fact much inferior to that which our own cows
produce*.” In 2 Samuel xvii. “cheese of kine” is men-
tioned, evidently as a distinction from that of goats; and
wherever it is not specified, the former of these may be
generally understood.

That the Jews had conformed to the worship of the bull
Apis, when sojourning in Egypt, may be gathered from many
parts of their history, and is, indeed, expressly mentioned
in Joshua xxiv.: “ Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve
him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which
your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in
Egypt;”’ it is, therefore, no matter of surprise, that during
the absence of Moses in the Mount, the fickle people, de-
spairing of his return, should propose to Aaron the fashion-
ing of a golden calf—‘ Up, make us gods, which shall go
before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us
up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of
him.” The Apis of the Egyptians was a living bull, gene-
rally supposed to be a symbol of their chief deity Osiris, or
the sun; it was necessary that the animal selected for this
honour should be black, with a square or triangular white

* Pictorial Bible.
THE OX. 149

spot on the forehead; the figure of an eagle, or some say 8
crescent, on the back, the hairs of the tail double, and an
excrescence under the tongue in the form of a beetle. Years
sometimes elapsed before an animal answering this descrip-
tion could be found to supply the place of one which had
died; but when discovered, it was conducted with great re-
joicings to the temple of Osiris. This worship retained a
strong hold on the fancy and affection of the people of Israel,
for amongst other instances, it will be recollected that many
centuries after the Exodus, king Jeroboam induced them to
worship the golden calves which he (who had resided in
Egypt) set up in Dan and Bethel; .but before condemning
them it ought to be remembered that they were surrounded
by idolatrous nations, and had no example of the worship
which was required from them by Moses.

Cattle were amongst the animals used as food by the
Israelites, as they possessed both the peculiarities mentioned
in the commands of Moses; they were also extensively em-
ployed in sacrifice, and are mentioned in almost numberless
cases as offerings at the altar. ‘ Young bullocks,” “ oxen,”
and “calves,” are words of constant occurrence in connection
with the services of the temple, and Solomon is said to have
offered “two-and-twenty thousand oxen,” besides sheep, at
150 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the solemn dedication of the “house of the Lord,” an im-
mense slaughter, in conformity with the feelings of the age,
but not with the spirit which dictated the words, “The sa-
crifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” A great proportion
of the flesh was, no doubt, distributed among the multitudes
assembled at Jerusalem. With heathen nations it was a
custom to sacrifice in acknowledgment of great victories, or
to arrest public calamities, as many as a hundred oxen or
other animals, which was called a hecatomb; but this was
very insignificant compared to the offering of Solomon.
Oxen were evidently used as beasts of burden by the
Hebrews ; for instance, in 1 Chronicles xii. is the following
passage—they “brought bread on asses and on camels, and
on mules and on oxen.” This custom prevails in the Kast to
this day; and they are not only employed in agriculture,
which is, in a certain degree, practised almost universally,
but for riding, particularly by women and aged persons, and
also for drawing the various conveyances of the country.
“ At Constantinople they draw the ornamented arabah ;
wherever the peasantry employ carts, they are drawn by
oxen; in the Tartarian Steppes they draw the moveable
huts and baggage of the nomades; and in India are yoked
THE WHALE. 151

to the carriages even of the wealthy natives. The docile
and vigorous white oxen of Guzerat are especially esteemed
for this service, and will travel at the rate of from thirty to
forty miles a day*.”

Orpen CETACKA.

Batzna.—The Whale.

The Whale belongs to an order of aquatic mammalia, dis-
tinguished by their fin-like anterior extremities, the hinder
extremities being in the form of a large fin or tail; having
no outward appearance of a neck; a very large head, at
least one-third the length of the body, and whalebone in the
jaws.

Balena Mysticetus, the common whale, measures about
sixty feet in length, and from thirty to forty in circum-
ference; the body very bulky, and suddenly tapering to the
tail; the head very large, the lips five or six feet high ; the
eyes small; the general colour blackish-grey, and white
underneath.

Balenoptera physalis is longer than the last species, often

* Pictorial Bible.
152 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

measuring one hundred feet; the food of this enormous
animal consists of fish, mollusca, and the smaller crustaces.

Physeter macrocephalus is the sperm or spermaceti whale ;
it is usually less than the Balenoptera, the head is very thick
and blunt; on the back is a large protuberance, beyond.
which the body gradually tapers to the “flukes” or tail.
On the right side of the nose and head is a large cavity,
which contains an oily fluid, of a yellowish colour, called
spermaceti ; this cavity sometimes contains ten large barrels
of this useful substance.

In the 1st chapter of Genesis it is said that “God created
great whales.” “Under the term ‘¢annim’ are compre-
hended all those mammiferous tenants of the ocean, which
belong to the order Cetacea. Of this order the sea-calf,
dolphin, porpoise, and whale are examples. Though they
inhabit the same medium, and resemble fishes in their
general form, yet they differ from them in many important
particulars. They respire by means of lungs, though des-
tined to spend their lives in the water, and are, therefore,
obliged from time to time to ascend to the surface to
inhale the atmospheric air; their blood is warm, and their
ears open outwards, though by small orifices*.’” In Lamen-

* Pictorial Bible.
THE WHALE. 158

tations is a striking corroboration that the word which in
Genesis is translated “whales” included the whole of the
mammiferous inhabitants of the deep, for there it is rendered
“sea-monsters:” “even the sea-monsters draw out the breast,

_they give suck to their young.” In the history of Jonah,
again, it is not necessary to define the “ great fish” to be a
whale, for though in Matthew xii. 40 this word is substi-
tuted, it is not to be understood of any one fish, but as a
general name for all the larger inhabitants of the deep; and
the whale being unknown in the Mediterranean, seems to
set the question at rest.

The word “leviathan,” which occurs in Job xli., Isaiah
xxvii., and in Psalm lxxiv., was supposed by all the old com-
mentators to be the whale, but all modern critics have iden-
tified it with the crocodile: this change of opinion is sup-
ported with very strong arguments by Bochart, which will
be readily understood after reading the 41st chapter of Job,
the whole being devoted to a description of the animal
called Leviathan. In the first place the whale tribes do
not inhabit the Mediterranean, and though some species
have occasionally been found there, the great whale has pro-
bably never been seen in that locality. The description too,
which is sufficiently minute, does not apply: thus in the
154 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

18th verse it says, “ His eyes are like the eyelids of the
morning,” whereas the eyes of the whale are very small. It
is remarkable that the ancient Egyptians used the eye of the
crocodile as a hieroglyphic, to denote the rising of the sun,
because they first become visible when it rises out of the water.
“ His teeth are terrible round about;”’ the whale, on the con-
trary, has no proper teeth, only the horny substance which
we call whalebone. “ Canst thou put an hook into his nose?”
and “Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seeth-
ing pot, or cauldron :” whales possess neither proper snout
nor nostrils, as they breathe through a spiracle, or blowing-
hole.

The whole of this powerful description, allowing for the
somewhat extravagant Bastern imagery, is very applicable to
the crocodile, which abounds in the Nile and other African
and Asiatic rivers. It is possessed of immense voracity and
strength, as well as fleetness in swimming, and attacks man-
kind with great impetuosity ; has an enormous mouth, with
very large and formidable teeth; and is furnished with a
coat of mail so scaly and hard, as to resist the force of a
musket-ball. ‘ His scales are his pride, shut up together as
with a close seal. The sword of him that layeth at him can-
not hold, the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. He es-
THE WHALE. 155

teemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow
cangot make him flee, sling-stones are turned. with him into
stubble. Darts are counted as stubble, he laugheth at the
shaking of a spear.”

One objection urged against the crocodile is, that it is re-
presented as untameable, whereas that animal has certainly
been tamed in many instances,—at Arsinoé, for instance,
where Strabo saw one, which allowed the priests to open his
mouth, cram it with good things, and when satisfied would
jump into an adjoining piece of water and swim about with
great glee. One of the Townley marbles also represents an
Egyptian tumbler exercising his feats on the back of a tame
crocodile. But in answer to this objection, it may be said,
that there is actually no assertion in the present chapter of
the untameable nature of the leviathan ; the first verses may,
indeed, imply great difficulty, but this is all: ““Canst thou
draw ont leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord
which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his
nose, or bore his jaw through with a thornP Will he make
many supplications unto thee? Will he speak soft words
unto theeP ‘Will he make a covenant with thee, wilt thou
take him for a servant for ever? Wilt thou play with him
as with a bird, or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?”
156 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The crocodile (Crocodilus vulgaris) is about twenty feet
long, sometimes even thirty, and covered with most elaborate
armour ;: the colour is blackish-brown above, and yellowish-
white underneath; the mouth is of vast size, and armed
with numerous sharp teeth; the tail is long and powerful ;
the legs very short, but strong and muscular; the hind feet
have only four toes, which are united by a strong web: the
crocodile is oviparous, the eggs being about the size of
those of the goose, and are deposited in the sand or mud
on the banks of rivers. The crocodile preys on fish; it is
now only found in the upper parts of Egypt, where the
heat is the greatest ; and in the rivers Senegal, Jaire, etc.,
it is still common. The Alligator of America, and the
Gavial of the Indian rivers, are of the same family and
habits, though differing in many particulars.

These formidable creatures belong to the Class Reptilia,
Order Sawria, and have been necessarily mentioned out of
their proper place in the classification.
 

Griffon Vulture.
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167

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—_-—

Ogper ACCIPITRES.

Vuurvr.—The Vulture. (Plate X. Vultur fulous, the
Griffon Vulture.)

This family of birds is characterized by an elongated
beak, curved at the tip, and by having a portion of the
head bare of feathers; sometimes the neck is also denuded.
In general, vultures live on dead carcases and offal of va-
rious kinds: they are, as Mr. Swainson observes, the great
scavengers of nature in hot latitudes, where putrefaction is
most rapid and most injurious to health, and the disposi-
tion of their numbers is regulated by an all-wise Creator
according to their usefulness. They are sparingly scattered
over the south of Europe; in Egypt they are much more
numerous; but in tropical America, although the species
are fewer, the individuals exist in far greater numbers.
158 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

There are many species ;—such as the Vultur awricularis,
or Sociable Vulture, inhabiting the greater part of Africa ;
its head and the greater portion of the neck are red and
naked; the throat is covered with blackish hairs, and the
lower part clothed with a ruff of black curling feathers ;
the plumage of the body, wings, and tail, is of a dark
brown colour, rather lighter beneath, and showing the pure
white down with which the body is closely covered. This
bird measures ten feet across the expanded wings; the
female builds her nest in the fissures of rocks, and lays
only two or three eggs. The size of this species renders it
a fit instrument for clearing its native country of the re-
mains of the large mammalia which are its inhabitants, the
elephant, hippopotamus, giraffe, etc.; and no sooner has
death seized its prey, than the vultures assemble in pro-
digious numbers, and soon clear the earth and air from the
taint of the rapidly decomposing body.

The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron perenopterus) is the
smallest of the tribe, and inhabits the shores of the Medi-
terranean. The front of the head and the upper part of
the throat are bare, and of a yellow colour; the plumage
white, excepting the quill feathers, which are black ; legs,
feet, and bill yellow; the tip of the latter being black.
THE VULTURE. 159

This species flies with great strength and rapidity: speci-
mens have occasionally been found in the British Isles.

The Griffon Vulture (Vultur fulvus, Plate X.) inhabits
the mountainous districts of the north of Europe, Silesia,
Dalmatia, Spain, the Tyrol, the Alps, Pyrenees, Turkey,
and the Grecian Archipelago, also Persia and Africa. Its
nest is usually placed on high and inaccessible rocks, or
very lofty trees. In length it is about three feet, with an
expanse of wing measuring eight or nine. The colour is a
deep reddish-grey, with the quill feathers and tail black ;
the head and neck are not quite bare, but are covered with
a short down, and the ruff is pure white. These birds can
descry a carcase at an extraordinary distance, whether by
scent or sight is not quite ascertained; Job evidently
ascribed it to the latter, as he says, “There is a path
which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath
not seen.”

The vulture is mentioned in the 11th chapter of Levi-
ticus, amongst those fowls which the Hebrews were for-
bidden to use as food; all of which are of those species
not eaten in the present day, probably from their habits
being carnivorous, which renders the flesh less proper for
hat purpose. Hasselquist, a pupil of Linneus, mentions
160 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

that he saw two species of vulture in the Holy Land; one
near Jerusalem, the other near Cana, in Galilee.

Aquita.—The Eagle.

This bird is distinguished by a very strong hooked beak ;
rather short but very strong legs, the toes armed with large
and powerful talons; both the wings and the tail are large
and possess very great’ strength and power of flight; the
eyes are proverbially keen and penetrating, and the sight
is the chief sense on which the eagle depends for food.
Homer says—

“The field exploring with an eye
Keen as the eagle’s, keenest-eyed of all
That wings the air, whom, though he soar aloft,

The lev’ret ’scapes not, hid in thickest shades,
But down he swoops, and at a stroke he dies.”

And Job—* Doth the eagle mount up at thy command,
and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on
the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
From thence she seeth the prey, and her eyes behold
afar off.”

Small mammalia, such as hares, marmots, or the young
of the mountain goat or antelope, are their favourite prey,
though the species which approach the nearest to the
vulture have no objection to those animals which have fallen
THE EAGLE. 16)

victims to any casualty. The female generally lays two
eggs, and the eyrie, which is used as a dwelling, as well as
a nest for the young, is placed on a ledge of rock, very
rarely on a tree. Jeremiah alludes to the nest of the eagle,
in his denunciations against the Ammonites, showing that
the habits of the bird were well known to him: “O thou
that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the
height of the hill, though thou shouldest make thy nest
as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence,
saith the Lord.”

The eagle takes that place amongst birds which is given
to the lion amongst quadrupeds, being considered the king
of the feathered tribe; it was also, in the heathen mytho-
logy, made the associate and emblem of Jupiter himself,
and is still called the bird of Jove.

Eagles may be divided into four distinct kinds :—“ the
Eagle par excellence, meaning the golden eagle and the
rest of the more powerful mountaineers agreeing most
closely with it in habit; Vulture Eagles, or those which
live more in the vicinity of woods, and which, though large
in size, are not so compactly built, or proportionately so
strong; Fishing Eagles, or those which chiefly or partially
levy their contributions upon the waters; and Hawk

M
162 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Eagles, or those of smaller size and comparatively feebler
powers*.”

The Golden Eagle (Aguila chrysaétos, Plate X.) is the
largest of the European eagles, the extent of its wings
being above seven feet; its general colour is deep brown,
rather tawny on the head and neck, the feathers on the
back being shaded with a darker hue; the legs are yellow,
short, and very strong, feathered to the feet, which are
armed with powerful claws. This species is found in va-
rious parts of Europe and Asia, and occasionally in Ireland,
Scotland, and Wales.

The White-tailed Eagle (Haliatos alvicilla) inhabits
northern Europe and Asia, and is found in Scotland: the
general colour of the plumage is brown, the breast being
spotted with white; sides of the head and neck pale ash mixed
with reddish-brown ; the legs are bright yellow; the claws
black. It is a strong and fierce bird, building its nest on
lofty trees, and usually laying two or three eggs. This
species is supposed by many commentators to be the “ ossi-
frage” of Leviticus xi.; others think a falcon, vulture, or
the black eagle is intended, but it is very difficult to identify
many of the birds there named.

* British Cyclopedia.
THE EAGLE. 1638

The eagle is one of the birds prohibited as food in Levi-
ticus xi. The gier eagle mentioned in the same chapter is
supposed by the authors of the Septuagint to be the swan :
the name obviously pointing to some bird noted for its
attachment to its young, and the swan, in spite of its ge-
nerally inoffensive disposition, will attack even man himself
in their defence; the eagle, however, is by no means want-
ing in affection and care for its brood, and there is a beau-
tiful allusion in Deuteronomy xxxii. to the attempts of the
parent bird to teach her young to fly: “As an eagle 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,” meaning Israel.

A striking parable may be seen in Wzekiel xvii., in which,
under the similitude of two eagles and a vine, the prophet
shadows forth some of the events that were to take place
in the latter days of the Hebrew kingdom. The eagle is
there made the symbol of imperial power, as it has so often
been in later times: an eagle with expanded wings formed
the imperial standard of the Persians under Cyrus; it was
also thus used by the Romans; and modern nations have
adopted a similar ensign, as a type of strength, power, and
swiftness.
164 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

PAanDION HALL#TOS.—The Osprey, or Fish-hawk. (Pl. X.)

This is one of the most numerous of the larger birds of
prey, and is a native both of Europe and Asia; living on
the sea-shore, and the borders of lakes and rivers. It is
about two feet long; the head small and flat, the crown
white, marked with dark spots; the upper parts of the
body are of a rich glossy brown, the under parts being
white, slightly spotted with brown on the breast; the legs
are short, thick, and strong, of a pale blue colour, the claws
being black ; the outer toe is larger than the inner one, and
easily turns backwards, thus enabling the bird more readily
to secure its prey, which consists principally of fish, and on
which it darts with wonderful velocity and with an unerring
aim. The osprey builds its nest on the ground, and lays
three or four eggs. The name of this bird only occurs once
in the Bible, and this is in Leviticus xi., where it is classed
with those birds that are unfit for food: some commentators
suppose the black eagle to be intended, but the probabilities
seem to be quite as strong in favour of the osprey.

Astur.—The Hawk.

A genus of birds of prey very nearly allied to the Falcons.
The wings are short and rounded, and better adapted for
frequent ascent and descent than for long-continued flight ;
THE SPARROW-HAWK. 165

the middle toe on the foot is longer than the side ones, and
the claws are very crooked and sharp; the beak is of the
same form as that of all birds which kill their prey and eat
it in a fresh state, being curved from the base. Hawks are
pretty numerous, and are found in almost every part of the
world, in rich lowland districts; they build more in trees
than either the eagle or falcon, between which they are in
many respects intermediate.

Faxco (Accipiter) Nisus.—The Sparrow Hawk.

This species, which is very widely distributed in every
part of the world, is very probably the “hawk” mentioned
in Leviticus ; it is found in all climates, from Russia to the
Cape of Good Hope. It was held in great veneration by
the ancient Egyptians, as the emblem of their deity Osiris ;
and by the Greeks it was consecrated to Apollo. The male
is about twelve, the female fifteen inches in length; the
plumage is of a deep bluish-grey, the under parts cream-
colour, with transverse bars of a deep brown or orange; the
quill-feathers are dusky, barred with black ; the tail is of a
deep ash-colour, marked with broad black bars; the bill
and legs yellow. The female differs somewhat in colour,
the head, back, and wing-coverts being browner, the tail of
a brighter dove-colour, and the breast containing a greater
166 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

portion of white. She generally builds in hollow trees,
lofty rocks, and ruins, laying four or five white eggs,
spotted with red at the thicker end. In the ‘ Natural His-
tory of Selborne’ it is mentioned that a pair of these birds
had brought up their brood in an old crow’s nest on a low
beech in Selborne hanger, and were a terror to all the dames
in the village who bad chickens or ducklings under their
care.

On the approach of winter the northern sparrow-hawks
migrate southward, preying on the smaller migratory birds
with great ferocity, whence the seamen in the Mediter-
ranean give them the name of “corsairs.” They remain
stationary in Egypt, and the young ones are said to be used
there as food.

The hawk is again mentioned in Job xxxix., and its mi-
gratory habits alluded to: “Doth the hawk fly by thy wis-
dom, and stretch her wings toward the south ?”

Fatco mitvus.—The Kite.

This bird is easily distinguished from the rest of the
hawk kind by its forked tail. Its length is about two feet,
its breadth five; the bill very much curved at the end; the
feathers on the neck are long, of a grey colour, streaked
with brown; the remainder of the plumage is brown, with
THE KITE. 167

a tinge of orange-colour; the legs are yellow. The kite
builds in forests, in the forked branch of a large tree, the
outer part being formed of twigs, and the inner lined with
wool, or some equally soft warm substance ; the female lays
two or three eggs of a whitish colour, spotted with yellow.
The kite is almost perpetually on the wing, and its flight is
easy and elegant as it hovers over its prey, of which young
ducks, chickens, and goslings form a favourite part.

“There was a time when the kite appears to have been
of as much service in London as the vulture still is in some
of the crowded cities of the East, for we read that in the
reign of Henry VIII. the British metropolis swarmed with
kites, attracted thither by the various kinds of offal thrown
into the streets, and that these birds fearlessly descended,
and fearlessly performed the scavengers’ office in the midst
of the people, it being forbidden to kill them*.” In
Turkey and Egypt they are still very useful in this respect,
hovering about, and resting on houses till called by a
whistle, when they descend and clear the ground of any
refuse matter.

There are several species of kite in southern Asia, Ame-
rica, and Australia, but they differ very little from the com-

* Manunder’s Treasury.
168 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

mon European species. The kite is named in Leviticus x1:
as an unclean bird, and there only.

Srurx.—The Owl. (Plate XI. Strix flammea, the Barn
Owl.)

This name is mentioned three times in Leviticus xi., as
the “owl,” “little owl,” and “great owl,” and again in
Isaiah xxxiv., the “screech owl ;” but all these are supposed
to point out different birds. The first, ath-hayyanah, trans-
lated “owl,” is generally agreed to denote the ostrich ;
yanshuph, the “great owl,” seems to be the sacred ibis ;
these two will be therefore noticed elsewhere. Cos, the
“little owl,” and éachmas, the “night-hawk,” remain to be
considered: with regard to the latter there seems to be
considerable obscurity as to species, but its original name
signifies a bird of ravenous and predatory habits, and Has-
selquist describes one as “of the size of a common owl, and
being very ravenous in Syria; and in the evenings, if the
windows are left open, flying into houses and killing infants
unless they are carefully watched.” This may be the bird °
in question, but it is quite impossible to come to any satis-
factory decision. ‘The “little owl” is probably the common
barn owl, Série flammea, which is widely distributed over
Europe, Asia, and America; some writers think the sea-
 

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THE OWL. 169

gull is intended, but as the majority incline in favour of the
owl, it will be a favourable occasion for giving a short notice
of these singular birds.

The family Strigide may be considered as a kind of noc-
turnal hawk, and Linneus has observed that they differ
from those birds in the same manner that moths do from
butterflies, the one being chiefly nocturnal, the others
diurnal. They have a large head; projecting eyes, which
are surrounded with a circle of loose delicate feathers,
covering the base of the beak; a strong hooked bill ;
crooked claws; the plumage very downy, and often spotted
or barred with shades of brown or yellow. The external
toe possesses the power of being moved either backwards
or forwards; the eyes are particularly adapted for seeing
objects in the dusk, and, iMable to bear the light of the
sun, the owl retires to some lonely retreat, where it passes
the day, and on the approach of night comes forth in quest
of prey, such as small birds, mice, bats, and moths, which
it swallows entire. It builds in fissures of rocks, in old
buildings, or in holes of trees, the female laying from two
to six eggs.

‘The owl family is very numerous, and may be sub-
divided into the three following groups :—the ¢ypical owls
170 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

(whose adaptation to nocturnal habits is most complete, and
who, during the day, with their eyes half shut, present a
great appearance of gravity), have a large external ear, and
large and complete discs round the eyes; the horned owls,
in which the external ear is smaller, but the discs round the
eyes still large, and in which the head is furnished with
two feathery tufts resembling horns; and the Aawék-ovls, in
which the external ear is very small, the discs wanting, and
the feathery tufts absent*.”

The Barn Owl (Strix flammea, Plate XI.) is found
throughout the temperate and warm regions of Europe (other
species, more or less resembling it, being known in most
of the temperate portions of the globe), and is probably the
one alluded to in Leviticus. It is a beautiful bird, mea-
suring about fourteen inches*in length; the head and
upper parts of the body are of a pale orange-colour, slightly
marked with chestnut spots; the feathers on the back are
tipped with grey, and finely sprinkled with black ; the face
is white, but the ruff is elegantly edged with a mixture of
reddish-brown and white; tail and quill-feathers slightly
barred with brown, and the whole of the under parts white.

Mr. Waterton says, that “if this useful bird caught its

* Manunder’s Treasury.
THE OWL. 171

food by day, instead of hunting for it by night, mankind
would have ocular demonstration of its utility in thinning
the country of mice, and it would be protected and encou-
raged everywhere. It would be with us what the ibis was
with the Egyptians. When it has young it will bring a
mouse to the nest every twelve or fifteen minutes. But in
order to have a proper idea of the enormous quantity of
mice which this bird destroys, we must examine the pellets
which it ejects from its stomach in the place of its retreat.
Every pellet contains from four to seven skeletons of mice ;
and in sixteen months from the time that the apartment of
the owl on the old gateway was cleaned out, there has been
a deposit of above a bushel of pellets.”

With reference to this “old gateway” and its inhabitants,
the same eminent naturalist says, “On the ruins of the old
gateway, against which tradition says the waves of the lake
have dashed for the better part of a thousand years, I made
a place, with stone and mortar, about four feet square, and
fixed a thick oaken stick firmly into it; huge masses of ivy
now quite cover it. In about a month after it was finished,
a pair of barn owls came and took up their abode in it. I
took upon myself the whole responsibility of all the sick-
ness, woe, and sorrow that the new tenants might bring to
172 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the Hall. When I found that this first settlement had
succeeded so well, I set about forming other establishments.
This year I have had four broods. . . . Confident of pro-
tection, these pretty birds betray no fear when the stranger
mounts up to their place of abode. Whenever we go to
look at them, we invariably see them upon the perch, bolt
upright, with their eyes closed, apparently fast asleep.”

The word 4th, translated “screech-owl” in Isaiah xxxiv.,
and which occurs-there only, is supposed to mean the eagle-
owl, Budo maximus, or Strie Bubo (Plate XI.), which haunts
ruinous places in many parts of the world; its appearance,
and the dismal sounds it: utters, harmonizing well with the
localities which it delights to frequent. This owl is found
in various countries of Europe, in the north of Africa, in
western Asia, and in the United States of America. Wilson
says, “This noted and formidable owl is found in almost
every quarter of the United States. His favourite residence
is in dark solitudes of deep swamps ; here, as soon as evening
draws on, and mankind retire to rest, he sends forth such
sounds as seem scarcely to belong to this world, startling
the solitary pilgrim as he slumbers by his forest fire, ‘making
night hideous.’ Along the mountainous shores of the Ohio,
and among the deep forests of Indiana, alone, and reposing
THE OWL. 178

in the woods, this ghostly watchman has frequently warned
me of the approach of morning, and amused me with his
singular exclamations, sometimes sweeping down and around
my fire, uttering a loud and sudden ‘Waugh O! waugh O!
sufficient to have alarmed a whole garrison. He has other
nocturnal solos, no less melodious, one of which very much
resembles the half-suppressed screams of a person suffocating
or throttled, and cannot fail of being extremely entertaining
to a lonely benighted traveller, in the midst of an Indian
wilderness.” The eagle-owl generally builds in lofty trees or
in rocks; the eggs seldom exceed two in number, and are
of a pure white colour. The bird itself is about two feet in
length ; its plumage is brown, mingled with yellow, and
marked with wavy lines, bars, and dashes of black: the
male has some white on the breast. One species of owl
was the sacred bird of Minerva; it is also treated with great
respect by some tribes of the American Indians. The Rab-
bins imagine the word Jidith to denote a spectre in the form
of a winged female, that lay in wait for children by night,
“and destroyed them. “In the unpublished travels of Cap-
tains Irby and Mangles the following observation occurs in
their account of Petra:—‘The screaming of eagles, hawks,
and owls, who were soaring above our heads in considerable
144 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

numbers, seemingly annoyed at any one approaching their
lonely habitations, added much to the singularity of the
scene.’ Laborde also takes notice of the hootings of the
screech-owl at night*.”

Oxpes PASSERES.

Hirunvo.—The Swallow.

This favourite and well-known bird seems scarcely to
need any description, as the habits of the family bring them
so frequently before our eyes, and they are, consequently,
more noticed than almost any other of the feathered tribe.
The distinguishing characteristics are, the enormous length
of the wings; the shortness of the beak, which is very
deeply cleft; so as to form a large mouth, adapted for
catching winged insects; and the extreme shortness of the
feet, which prevents them from springing easily off the
ground: consequently, they very seldom alight, and appear
to live almost entirely on the wing, surpassing every other
bird in the untiring rapidity of their movements.

Sir Humphry Davy says, “The swallow is one of my

* Pictorial Bible.
THE SWALLOW. 175

favourite birds, and a rival of the nightingale; for he cheers
my sense of seeing as much as the other does my sense of
hearing. He is the glad prophet of the year, the harbinger
of the best season ; he lives a life of enjoyment amongst the
loveliest forms of nature; winter is unknown to him; and
he leaves the green meadows of England in the autumn,
for the myrtle and orange groves of Italy, and for the palms
of Africa. Even the beings selected for his prey are poeti-
cal, beautiful, and transient. He is the destroyer of insects,
the friend of man, and may be regarded as a sacred bird.”

Wilson calls the swallow “a little winged seraph,” when
ridiculing the notion of its becoming torpid in the winter,
and concealing itself at the bottom of lakes and rivers;
a notion now exploded, since observation has been more
directed to the subject of migration.

Shakspeare thus alludes to the habits of the “ martlet,”
or house martin, perhaps the most interesting of the tribe.

“This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve
By his loved masonry, that the heaven’s breath
Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, buttress,
Nor coigne of ’vantage, but this bird hath made
His pendent bed and procreant cradle: where they
Most breed and haunt, I have observed the air most delicate.”
176 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The whole family are insectivorous, and are thus of the
greatest service to man, in keeping within bounds many of
those insects which would otherwise prove highly injurious.
The swallow is always most abundant in rich and warm
situations, for there insects abound, and by its means their
numbers are regulated and limited.

There are many both native and foreign species of this
interesting family ; and for a fall account, the reader must
be referred to other works, as only a small number can be
mentioned in this brief notice.

The Chimney Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the only spe-
cies properly called with us the swallow, the rest being
either martins or swifts. Its general colour is black, with
a tinge of greyish-blue; the throat and forehead are red-
dish-brown; the lateral tail-feathers are remarkably long, |
which produces the forked appearance, so characteristic of
these birds. They form their nests in chimneys, outhouses,
or ruins, laying three or four eggs, white, spotted with red;
in the warmer parts of the country they have two broods;
the one taking the wing in June, the other just before their
departure in September. In Sweden they build in barns,
and are called /adu swala, the barn swallow ; in the warmer
parts of Europe, where chimneys are rare, they construct
THE SWALLOW. 177

their nest in porches, gateways, and galleries. Gilbert
White mentions one that built for two years together in the
handles of a pair of shears, which were reared against an
outhouse; and another that made its nest on the wings and
body of a dead owl.

The House Martin (H. urbica) has the whole of the upper
part of the body black, with the exception of a patch of white
above the tail, while the under part is of a pure white,
slightly tinged with grey in the female. It builds its nest
under a projecting roof if possible; and when unable to do
this, constructs a dome to keep off the rain. Jesse mentions
a martin which built its nest, and reared its brood, on the
knocker of the hall-door at a gentleman’s house in Warwick-
shire. When the door was opened, the bird quitted its nest
for a short time, but returned when the door was closed.
In some parts of the country the house martin rears three
broods in the year, laying four or five eggs each time. In
the intervals the house sparrow sometimes takes possession
of the nest, and the former owner is said to build her in,
as she cannot forcibly eject the intruder. The eggs are
white, inclining to dusky at the thicker end. The martin
generally migrates in October.

The Sand Martin (H. riparia) is the smallest of the

N
178 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

British swallows. The plumage is not of so dark a hue as
the last-named species, being of a brown colour above, and
the under parts white; the wings and tail brown. The
female lays five or six white, nearly transparent eggs, and
has commonly two broods in the year; the nest is placed
in deep holes excavated in sand-banks; these holes are
often within a few inches of each other, and extend about
two feet deep, at the end of which, the nest, consisting of
fine grass and feathers, is placed: the young birds are fed
with gnats, dragon-flies, and other insects. This species is
by no means so common as the rest, and, unlike them in
habits, it builds at a distance from the haunts of man, de-
lighting in wild heaths and commons, particularly in the
vicinity of lakes or ponds.

The Swift (Hirundo or Cypselus apus) is larger, stronger,
and more rapid in its flight, arrives later in this country
and departs earlier, than any of its family. Its length is
nearly eight inches ; colour sooty-black, tinged with green ;
the wings very long in proportion to the body, and the tail
much forked; the legs are very short. The female is rather
smaller, and the plumage more inclining to brown; she
lays two white, oblong eggs, and has only one brood in the
year. The swift builds in the crevices of high towers and
THE SWALLOW. 179

lofty buildings; the nest is composed of dried grass, silk-
thread, feathers, etc., which the bird collects while on the
wing; having only two young to feed, they are much at
leisure. They are most active creatures, rising early, and
retiring to rest later than any other bird; just before
they retire, whole groups of them assemble high in the air,
darting about with wonderful rapidity, and uttering their
peculiar and joyous scream, which, though certainly un-
musical, is anything but unpleasing, so much does it ex-
press of freedom and happiness. The Swedes have bestowed
the name of ring-swala on the swift, from the perpetual
circles it makes in its flight.

White, in his ‘ Natural History of Selborne,’ gives a very
amusing account of a young swift which had fallen from its
nest, and been captured by some children, when full fledged,
but incapable of flight ; he fed and nursed the little creature
for nearly a fortnight, exercising it by degrees in the art of
flying, which it learned but slowly. At length, finding that
the swifts had not many more days to remain in England, he
détermined to take his nursling to a level meadow, and try
its powers of flight in the open air. He thus describes the
pretty termination of his schooling :—‘I had carried it
through two or three rooms lying on the palm of my hand,
180 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

and had just passed the threshold of the house-door, and
was in the act of stroking its head with my fingers, when,
upon the swifts screaming in the air, it suddenly sprang out
of my hand, and flew low round the carriage drive, as it had
been accustomed to fly round the room, and passing over my
head as it came round, it rose high in the air to join the
wild swifts, and was never seen by us again. Three days
after, the swifts had all departed, and I make little doubt
that in less than a week after its vain attempts to surmount
Johnson’s dictionary, my young friend was flying sky-high
in the heart of Africa.” The poor little bird had vainly en-
deavoured to climb some quarto volumes, by which it was
penned in.

There are many foreign varieties of this family, both in
the New and Old Worlds.

The word translated “swallow” in the 84th Psalm, and
again in Proverbs xxvi., denotes freedom and deliverance ;
and as it evidently points to some bird, it probably refers
to the free manner in which the swallow flies. . In the 9th
chapter of Jeremiah this bird is again mentioned, and re-
ference made to its migratory habits, which must have been
well known, even at that time, and is referred to in many
parts of the Bible: “ Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth
THE SPARROW. . 181

her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the
swallow observe the time of their coming.” No particular
species is named by the sacred writers.

Orprr PASSERES.—Svus-Orpez CONIROSTRES.

Prretra pomMEstica.—The Sparrow.

This familiar little bird is nearly six inches in length,
and of a robust form; the bill is dusky, the head and back
part of the neck ash-grey, the throat and round the eyes
black ; the breast and under parts pale ash-colour, the back
and wing-coverts reddish-brown mixed with black, the tail
brown and rather forked; the plumage of the female is
plainer than that of the male bird; she lays five or six eggs,
of a reddish-white, spotted with brown; the nest is built
under the eaves of houses, in holes of walls, etc.; there are
generally three broods in a year. The partiality shown by
the sparrow for the neighbourhood of man, renders it one of
our best-known birds, and, though not of showy plumage,
it is far prettier and more varied in colour than would be
imagined by those who have only made its acquaintance
amidst the smoke of a large town. Sparrows are extremely
182 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

voracious, and Buffon says they will destroy about 4000
caterpillars weekly, in feeding their young, which certainly
well repays the slight damage they may do to the field and
garden from their love for grain and seeds.

There is a pretty anecdote related in the ‘Zoological
Journal,’ respecting these somewhat despised little birds,
which evinces much fondness for their offspring, and a
change of habit to suit a particular circumstance, which
would be very remarkable were it not of such frequent oc-
currence. “ A few years since, a pair of sparrows which had
built in a thatched roof of a house at Poole, were observed
to continue their regular visits to the nest long after the time
when the young birds take flight. This unusual circum-
stance continued throughout the year, and in the winter, a
gentleman who had all along observed them, determined on
investigating the cause. He therefore mounted a ladder,
and found one of the young ones detained a prisoner, by
means of a piece of string or worsted, which formed part of
the nest, having become accidentally twisted round its leg.
Being thus incapacitated for procuring its own sustenance,
it had been fed by the continued exertions of its parents.”

Mr. Waterton thus describes the Solitary Sparrow (Passer
solitarius) :—“ The bird to which David compares himself,
THE SPARROW. 188

Psalm cii., is a thrush in size, in shape, in habits, and in
song; with this difference, that it is remarkable throughout
all the East, for sitting solitary on the habitations of man.
The first time I ever saw this lonely, plaintive songster,
was in going to hear mass in the magnificent church of the
Jesuits at Rome. The dawn was just appearing, and the
bird passed over my head, in its transit from the roof of
the Palace Odescalchi to the church of the Twelve Apostles,
singing as it flew. . . . It is, indeed, a solitary bird, for it
never associates with any other, and only with its own mate
at breeding time; and even then it is often seen quite alone
upon the house-top, where it warbles in sweet and plaintive
" strains, and continues its song as it moves in easy flight
from roof to roof. It lays five eggs, of a very pale blue. The
bird itself is blue, with black wings and tail; the blue of the
body becoming lighter when placed in different attitudes.”
The sparrow is mentioned twice in the Psalms, and the
original Hebrew word ¢zippor occurs very frequently in the
Scriptures, but is elsewhere translated “bird” or “ fowl ;” it
has both a general and definite signification, and it is not
very easy to determine which is intended. In Psalm lxxxiv.,
the restricted sense is doubtless the true one, as it agrees
with the habit of the sparrow. “ Yea, the sparrow hath found
184 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may
lay her young, even thine.altars, O Lord of Hosts, my king
and my God ;” for though this passage need not be taken in
its literal sense, yet the birds in the East being less exposed
to molestation than in our country, they, in all probabi-
lity, were allowed to, and did, build their nests in the beams
and rafters of the sacred buildings. In Psalm cii., where
the same Hebrew word occurs, the general signification
would suit the sense much better, and consequently many
commentators subsitute “solitary bird,” or “bird alone,”
for “sparrow” in the following verse: “I watch and am as
a bird alone upon the house-top.”

Corvus Corax.—The Raven.

The original Hebrew word translated “raven,” is “ ored,”
which might be construed “the bird of night,” a name
which it probably derived from its sable plumage. “A word
of the same origin is extended by the Arabian writers to the
rook, crow, and jackdaw, as well as to the raven; in fact,
it seems to include all those species which are by Cuvier
ranged under the genus Corvus. The predominant colour
of these is black; hence ‘ Hreb’ (the origin of the classic
Erebus), implying a sable hue, is a very proper word as a
generic appellation, corresponding to Corvus.”
THE CROW. 185

The characteristics of the Corvide are a strong, com-
pressed bill, covered at the base with stiff feathers; the form
of the foot enabling them to traverse fields with facility
in search of food, whilst they can also perch with secu-
rity on trees; the wings broad, and moderately long; the
length of the tail varying in the different species; the sight
very keen; and the colour of their plumage generally dark
but lustrous.

The common Crow (Corvus corone) is about eighteen
inches long, and twenty-six in width; it has glossy, bur-
nished feathers, nearly black in their general appearance;
it lives principally in woods, builds on trees, laying five or
six eggs; it feeds on putrid flesh, or on eggs, shell-fish,
worms, and insects, also destroying weakly lambs, young
rabbits, and chickens.

The Rook (Corvus frugilegus) has a neatly straight beak,
of a bluish-black colour, with a portion of the skin at
the base bare of feathers in the full-grown bird; the plu-
mage is black, glossed with reflections of purple, violet, and
blue. Rooks build on trees, the female laying four or five
spotted eggs; their favourite food is the grub of the chafer
or beetle, in destroying which they do good service to the

farmer.
186 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula).—In this species the
head is black, the neck and back greyish-black ; the wing-
coverts black, glossed with violet: the under parts bluish-
black. The jackdaw feeds on insects, worms, and various
seeds; it builds chiefly in towns, ruins, and cliffs, laying five
or six spotted eggs. These three species are very generally
diffused, and were probably familiar to the sacred writers.

The Raven (Corvus coraz) is the largest of the genus; its
bill is strong and black, covered with hairs or bristles; the
colour of the whole bird black, finely glossed with blue. It
is a bold and sagacions bird, eating every animal substance
that comes in its way, and often destroying rabbits, young
ducks, and chickens, always commencing its repast on the
eyes of the animal. This fact was well known in ancient
times, as appears by the expression in Proverbs xxx., “The
eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his
mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the
young eagles shall eat it.” The female lays five or six eggs
of a pale bluish-green, spotted with brown; the nest is
placed in trees or in the holes of rocks. In Leviticus xi.
the word ored, translated “raven,” may probably be taken in
its general sense, and thus, “every raven after his kind”
would include all those Corvide known to the Hebrews,
THE RAVEN. 187

forbidding any one of the family to be used as food ; cer-
tainly the interdiction would in this case be no hardship, as
the habits of the principal species do not recommend them
for that purpose; nor would they, under ordinary circum-
stances, be chosen as purveyors of food for man, but in
1 Kings xvii. we read that Elijah, when living in retirement
near the brook Cherith, was fed by ravens: “ And the ravens
brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and
flesh in the evening.” There have been various explanations
of this passage, by those who see no reason for believing
that any miracle was performed for the support of the
prophet: the most probable is that which would substitute
for “raven” the word “ Arabians” (whose name is almost
identical), or the inhabitants of some town called Ored, “a
raven :” we know there was a rock called by this name, and
a town or village may have borne the same designation.
The passage would have equal force, were either of these
words substituted: “I have commanded” the Arabians, or
the inhabitants of Oreb, “to feed thee there ;” and again,
“The Arabians,” or “the inhabitants of Oreb,” “brought
him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in
the evening ;” and we have no warrant for substituting a
miraculous interposition, where so simple an expedient
188 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

would have equally effected the purpose of the prophet’s
nourishment, during his residence at the brook Cherith.

Orper GALLINZ.

Pavo.—The Peacock.

There are two species of this magnificent bird, Pavo eris-
tatus, the common peacock, and P. Javanicus, the Java-
nese peacock. The former measures about four feet in
length ; the head is beautifully formed, and ornamented with
a tuft composed of twenty-four feathers, of the most exqui-
site green, edged with gold; the head, throat, neck, and
breast are of a deep blue, glossed with green and gold;
the back, the same colour, tinged with bronze; the smaller
wing-coverts are cream-colour, marked with black; the
middle coverts, deep blue; the under parts are dusky; the
tail greyish-brown, but it is concealed by the gorgeous
train, which, when expanded, forms a superb fan, the shafts
are white, and the end of each feather is extended into a
flat surface, which is decorated with what is called the eye,
a brilliant spot enamelled with the most lovely colours, green,
yellow, blue, and bright violet, the centre being velvet-black.
THE PEACOCK. 189

“When pleased or delighted, the peacock erects his train
. and displays the majesty of his beauty: all his movements
are full of dignity ; his head and neck bend nobly back, his
pace is slow and solemn, and he frequently turns slowly and
gracefully round, as if to catch the sunbeams in every di-
rection, and produce new colours of inconceivable richness.”
These lovely plumes are shed every year, at which time the
bird conceals himself as much as possible. The cry of the
peacock is very harsh and discordant. The female is smaller
than the male, her train is very short, and her whole plu-
mage is of a light brown or cinereous colour: she lays four
or five white spotted eggs, in some secret and sequestered
place, concealing them from the male, who is very apt to
break them. It is said that the hen, when in a state of
nature, lays between twenty and thirty eggs; this evidently
varies, however, according to climate, as in Greece ten or
twelve is the usual number.

Pavo Javanicus is of about the same size as the common
species; the tuft is longer, and it has a naked space on the
cheeks, including the eyes and ears, which is coloured a
light yellow, shading into green towards the fore part; the
head and crest are bluish-green; the rest of the plumage is
of a beautiful metallic brown, varied with blue and green ;

»
190 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the “eyes” on the train are deep purple in the centre,
edged with green, brown, black, and lastly chestnut, all beau-
tifully iridescent.

Though long naturalized in Europe, peacocks are origi-
nally from the East, being found in the vicinity of the
Ganges, on the extensive plains of India, in Siam, and also
in Africa.

“ From the number of peacocks which are still found in
India, especially in the richly wooded dells of the Western
Ghauts, not a doubt can be entertained of India being the
native country of these splendid birds. Some of the valleys
they inhabit there, are peculiar and picturesque in a very
high degree. There are often circular valleys, or, as one
might almost call them, cauldrons, so narrow, that the eye
of one standing on the brink can overlook their whole
extent, so deep and so steep in the sides, that it is impos-
sible to descend into them, and with the outlet so rough
and so choked with vegetation, that a passage that way is
equally difficult. In these singular places, peacocks may
be often seen in swarms, and the brilliancy of their colours
adds greatly to the other characters of these curious places.
Of course they feed on the ground, in the openings be-
tween the trees; but the places of their repose, both when
THE PEACOCK. 191

resting for the day, and for sleeping at night, are on the
topmost branches, where they make a very brilliant appear-
ance*.” They were brought into Greece about the time of
Alexander, and to Rome during the decline of the republic,
being then esteemed a great luxury for the table; it is not
ascertained at what precise period they were introduced into
this country.

Peacocks are mentioned in 1 Kings x. and 2 Chronicles
ix., as amongst those productions brought by Solomon’s
fleet, “gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks ;” and
they were certainly well calculated, by their gorgeous beauty,
to adorn the court of that magnificent king. The author
"of the book-of Job also alludes to their beauty in the 39th
chapter, “Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks P”
Some commentators have thought that the parrot was in-
tended by the word “ ¢hukijim,” others, pheasants or sun-
birds; but the majority are in favour of the peacock, and
this interpretation is sanctioned by the ancient versions and
Hebrew interpreters. Probably many other curious and
interesting animals were brought to Solomon, who certainly
evinced the superior wisdom with which he was endowed,
by devoting it to the study of the works of that Being who

* British Cyclopedia.
192 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

made him to surpass “all the kings of the earth in riches
and wisdom.” All Solomon’s works on natural history are
lost, though sufficiently alluded-to to prove that such were
written. Josephus says that he made every plant and living
creature the subject of a parable.

“The peacock, the bird of Juno, was an ancient Pagan
symbol, signifying the apotheosis of an empress, as we find
from many of the old Roman coins and medals. The early
Christians, accustomed to this interpretation, adopted it as a
general emblem of the mortal changed for the immortal
state; and with this signification we find the peacock, with
outspread train, on the walls and ceilings of catacombs, the
tombs of martyrs, and many of the sarcophagi, down to the
fourth and fifth centuries. It is only in modern times that
the peacock has become the emblem of worldly pride*.”

GaLLus pomesticus.—The Domestic Cock.

This well-known and very useful bird scarcely needs de-
scription; and, indeed, scarcely two can be found which
resemble each other in form and plumage. The head is
surmounted by a crimson fleshy substance, called a comb,
and two pendulous bodies of the same nature, termed
wattles, hang under the throat: the hen has a similar ex-

* Mrs, Jameson’s ‘ Legendary Art.’
THE DOMESTIC COOK. 1938

crescence, but much smaller, and less highly coloured. The
plumage of the cock is always, except in the white breeds,
much more splendid than that of the hen; it is infinitely
varied, and in some specimens very rich and beautiful.
The hen, if left to herself, makes a very rude nest: a hole
scratched in the ground among bushes is all she requires ;
she generally lays from twelve to fifteen eggs, and in the
process of hatching them is a model of patience, as she is of
courage, when watching over the safety of her young brood,
and labouring with untiring assiduity to provide them with
sustenance. Even our Saviour thought this beautiful in-
stance of solicitude not an unworthy simile for his tender
anxiety in the fate of Jerusalem : “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are
sent unto thee, how oftén would I have gathered thy chil-
dren together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not.”

The forests in many parts of India abound with this
valuable bird, and it is supposed that the race was first
domesticated in the East, and thence extended to the rest .
of the world; indeed, it seems pretty certain that it was in
troduced into Europe from Persia, but having been so long
naturalized it is impossible to trace its progress. The

0
194 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with this bird ;
and Pliny says, “Next to the peacock, the birds which are
most sensible to glory are those active sentinels which na-
ture has produced to rouse us from our matin slumbers, and
send us to our daily occupations. They do not suffer the
day-beam to surprise us without timely warning ; their crow-
ing announces the hour of morning, and the crowing itself
is announced by the clapping of their wings. Each farm-
yard has its peculiar king ; and amongst these monarchs, as
amongst princes of our race, empire is the meed of victory.”

Fowls are mentioned in 1 Kings iv. amongst the provi-
_ sion for the household of Solomon: “Ten fat oxen, and
twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, be-
sides harts, and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl.”
This last expression shows that fowls were domesticated and
reared purposely for consumption. The provision here men-
tioned appears enormous, until we have some knowledge of
oriental courts, and the number of persons maintained in
them. The daily consumption of food in the court of Cyrus
was inscribed on a brazen pillar at Persepolis, and the prin-
cipal items were as follow :—upwards of a thousand bushels
of wheat; the same of barley-meal; four hundred sheep ;
three hundred lambs; one hundred oxen; thirty horses;
THE PARTRIDGE. 195

thirty deer; four hundred geese; one hundred goslings ;
three hundred doves; six hundred various small birds ;
seventy-five gallons of fresh milk, and the same of sour;
and nearly four thousand gallons of wine.

Every one will remember the mention of the cock in the
26th chapter of Matthew, “This night, before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice ;” and again, “ And immediately
the cock crew, and Peter remembered the word of Jesus,
which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny
me thrice; and he went out, and wept bitterly.” This
proves that these birds were kept in Jerusalem, though it
is said that they were forbidden in the city, from a super-
stitious notion of their polluting the holy food (the peace
and thank-offerings which were eaten there), by turning
over dunghills, where creeping things and other pollutions
might be discovered.

Perpix.—The Partridge. (Plate XII. Oriental Part-
ridges.)

The characters of this genus are a short, stout, and com-
pressed bill, naked at the base, the upper mandible much
curved towards the tip; the three front toes are united by
membranes as far as the first joint; the tail is short,
rounded, and drooping; the wings are also short. Part-
196 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

ridges are very numerous in the warm and temperate re-
gions of the globe, living in pairs, principally in open tracts
of country: their food consists of grain, bulbous roots, |
seeds, and insects: they make a whirring noise on the wing,
but walk much more than they fly. The female lays her
eggs on the ground, often in the slight hollow formed by
the foot of an ox or horse, and slightly strewed with decayed
leaves ; the eggs are numerous, amounting, frequently, to
more than twenty ; upwards of thirty have been found in
the nest of the English species.

The English Partridge (Perdiz cinerea) is about thirteen
inches long, of a brown-ash colour, mixed with black, each
feather being streaked with buff; the chin, cheeks, and
forehead are tawny; old birds have a bright scarlet spot of
bare skin near the ear; the breast is marked with a chestnut
crescent. This species is also found in the East.

The Red-legged Partridge (Perdix rufus) is larger than
P. cinerea; the bill is red; the head greyish-brown in front,
red-brown at the back; the chin and throat white, encircled
with black, with a band of white over each eye; the back
and wings are greyish-brown; the breast pale ash-colour ;
under parts of the body red; the sides marked with streaks
of white, black, and orange. A variety of P. saxatilia,
Cr mes Se

THE PARTRIDGE. 197

The Greek Partridge (Perdix saratilis) has the upper
part of the body bluish-grey; the cheeks, throat, and upper
part of the neck white, with a band of black; all the under
parts are yellowish; tail ash-coloured, with five of the fea-
thers on each side tipped with red. This bird generally
lives among rocks, but descends into the plains to make its
nest, and find sustenance for its brood. The partridge is
called, in 1 Samuel xxvi., a bird of the mountains, which
makes it probable that this species may be there alluded to.
It will sit on the eggs of a stranger, like the domestic hen,
and is often driven thence (according to Dr. Shaw) by the
rightful owner, which may explain the text in Jeremiah
xvii., “As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them
not ;”’ or, still more clearly,.according to the marginal read-
ing, “As the partridge gathereth young which she hath not
brought forth.”

All these species occur in the warm and temperate re-
gions of Europe and Asia, the latter also in Nubia and
Egypt, where they break into numerous varieties; the fran-
colins also, which by some naturalists are included in the
genus Perdiz, and from which they differ very slightly, are
abundant in similar localities, and either genus may furnish
the allusions in the Scriptures. The Hebrew word signifies
198 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the caller, and is very applicable to this tribe of birds, which
are noted for their loud call. .

«Whenever a dog or other formidable animal approaches
the nest of a partridge, the hen practises every art to allure
him from the site. She keeps at a little distance before him,
feigning to be incapable of flight, and just hopping up, and
falling down before him, but never advaneing to such a
distance as to discourage her pursuer. At length, having
sufficiently misled him, she at once takes wing and disap-
pears. The danger being over, and the dog withdrawn,
she returns and finds her scattered brood, who immediately
assemble at her call, and follow her. Corn-fields are the
places that partridges most delight in, expecially while the ~
corn is growing, for that is a safe retreat, where they re-
‘main undisturbed, and under which they usually breed.
They frequent the same fields after the corn is cut down,
but with a different intent; for they then feed on such corn
as has dropped from the ears, and find sufficient shelter
under cover of the stalks*.”

Corunnrx.—The Quail. (Plate XII. Coturniz vulgaris.)

These little birds greatly resemble the partridge, but they
are smaller, the bill more slender, no red mark over the

* Maunder’s Treasury.
 

(uals... Oriental Partridges.
Exodus 16.18. Jeremiah 17.1b.
THE QUAIL. 199

eye, and no spurs. The true quails are not found in Ame-
rica, but abound in Asia, Africa, and the southern parts of
Europe; they are migratory birds, and are seen in prodi-
gious flocks flying across the Mediterranean from Europe to
Africa, in the autumn, and returning in the spring; they
have sometimes appeared in such immense numbers at

_ Naples, that a hundred thousand have been taken in a day,
within four or five miles. And Bewick says, it appears —
probable that the quails which supplied the Israelites with
food, were driven into the desert by a wind from the south-
west, sweeping over Ethiopia and Egypt towards the shores
of the Red Sea.

“These birds, as well as the way of taking and preparing
them, must have been well known to the Israelites while -
in Egypt. At the proper season these migratory birds re-
sorted to Egypt in such vast flocks, that even the dense
population of Egypt was unable to consume them while
fresh ; but they salted and dried great quantities for future
use. It is still the same in those countries: and modern
travellers, on witnessing the incredible numbers of these
birds, have expressed their conviction, that, as the text de-
scribes, such a suitable wind as the Almighty sent, could
only have been necessary, in order to supply even the great
200 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Hebrew host with a sufficient number of quails to last for
a month.”

The Common Quail (Coturnix vulgaris) measures about
seven inches in length; the feathers of the head, neck, and
back, are a mixture of ash, black, and brown; the neck
and head are divided by a pale yellow line; the chin and
throat are white, bounded by a black crescent; the breast is
yellowish-red, spotted with black and streaked with yellow;
the tail and wings are marked with rust-coloured bands;
under parts yellowish-white. The plumage of the female is
less vivid; she lays from eight to twelve eggs, of a yel-
lowish colour, with dusky spots. .

There are several other species, such as the Chinese Quail .
(C. excalfactoria), » beautiful little species, measuring only
four inches, which is kept in cages in China, for the very
singular purpose of warming the hands of the owners in
winter. The New Holland Quail (C. Australis) and the.
White-throated Quail (C. ¢orquata) differ but little in ap-
pearance and habits from C. vulgaris, which, in all proba-
bility, is the bird alluded to in Exodus xvi. and Numbers xi.

Corumpa.—The Pigeon. (Plate XIII. Zurtur risoriue,
the Syrian Dove.)

The form of this bird is in all its varieties very elegant :
 

oe

iticus

Hoopoe.

Lae

Genesis 8.8.

Syrian Dove.
THE PIGEON. 201

the bill is weak, straight, slightly curved at the point, and
has a soft protuberance at the base, in which are the nos-
trils; the legs are short, the toes perfectly divided. The
sexes do not differ in plumage, which in Tureus risorius is
of a delicate buff, ornamented with a black collar at the back
of the neck. Pigeons are found in every climate, and,
although they thrive best in warm countries, they will live
in high northern latitudes. Their manners are particularly
gentle; they are fond of society, faithful and affectionate
to their mates, whom they caress with the most tender and.
graceful movements, and are the general emblem of peace
and innocence. A pair belonging to the author’s family
were universally admired for their confiding familiarity and
their extreme beauty.

Different species of pigeons and doves seem to be scat-
tered over the whole of the torrid and temperate zones. It
would be superfluous, and indeed impossible, in this little
work, to enter into any minute description of the varieties,
most of which seem to have descended from the stock-dove
(Columba Gnas), which is about fourteen inches in length ;
the head, neck, and back of a bluish-grey, glossed on the
neck with green and gold; the breast pale reddish-purple ;
lower part of the back, and under parts of the body, light
202 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

grey or ash; wings barred with black ; tail ash-grey, tipped
with black. This bird builds in the hollows of decayed
trees, and generally has two broods in the year; the male
and female taking the office of incubation by turns. Wild
pigeons migrate into England in large flocks at the ap-
proach of winter, from the northern regions, returning
early in the spring; many also remain in this country.

The Hebrew word yonah, used in Genesis viii., is pro-
bably “a counterpart to Columba, the generic term for all
the various kinds of doves with which we are acquainted.”
It would be very difficult to arrive at any conclusion with
regard to the species intended in the various parts of Scrip-
ture, in which allusions are made to this interesting bird ;
in all probability no particular species is intended ; “ turtle-
doves or young pigeons” are constantly named in Leviticus
and elsewhere, as offerings in the religious ceremonies of
the Jews, but in alt cases the allusions are very vague.

In Psalm lv. is the beautiful expression—“Oh that I
had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at
rest.” This is in allusion to the rapidity and sustained
power of flight so characteristic of this bird, the carrier
pigeon having been known to fly forty miles in the short
space of half an hour; and is almost equally applicable to
THE PIGEON. 208

the whole genus. Virgil refers to this well-known trait
in the following lines; and his mention of the dove, being,
like that quoted above, poetical and not systematic, the
species is no more defined than in the still more exquisite
poetry of the Hebrew psalmist.
“ In her neat within some cavern hung,

The dove sits trembling o’er her callow young,

Till roused at last, by some impetuous shock,

She starts surprised, and beats around the rock ;

Then to the open fields for refuge flies,

And the free bird expatiates in the skies ;

Her pinions poised, through liquid sir she springs,

And smoothly glides, nor moves her levell’d wings.””

The next mention of our beautiful favourite is in the
68th Psalm, where the description may still apply to several
of the Eastern specimens of this genus: “Though ye have
lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove
covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.”
The plumage of many doves may well be compared to silver
in its chaste elegance, and others have the lustrous bril-
liancy of gold ; but this difficult text has had many different
explanations, and some think the expression refers to a
standard, bearing a dove as a symbol.

The Turtle Doves, which are mentioned in so many
204 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

places in the Bible, are a subdivision of the family ; the
species of the true turtle have the tails rounded at the ex-
tremity, and the plumage more simple than the pigeon ; all
the birds coming under the denomination of turtles are
more delicate-looking, and their bills more slender; while,
with the exception above named, the tail is longer and more
wedge-shaped than that of the pigeon, in some species con-
siderably so. The collared turtle is supposed to be the bird
alluded to in Solomon’s Song, and many particulars may be
gleaned respecting it by an attentive perusal: that it was a
migratory bird and a visitant only to very warm climates,
may be gathered by the stanza, ‘Rise up, my love, my
fair one, and come away ; for lo, the winter is past, the rain
is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the
time of singing is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard
in our land.” Also in Jeremiah viii. is another proof of
their migratory habits: “Yea, the stork in the heaven
knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle, and the crane,
and the swallow, observe the time of their coming.” Its
voice is also frequently alluded to, as one of the joyful
signs of the approach of summer; and that of the collared
tartle is of a joyous nature, much resembling a short sub-
dued laugh. ,
THE PIGEON. 205

This bird is found throughout Africa as far south as the
Cape, migrating into the south of Europe and Asia during
the summer. Its length is about ten inches, its form light
and delicate; the wings and tail long, the latter rounded
at the end; the feathers on the upper part of the body are
of a grey colour with a rosy tinge; the wing-coverts cream-
colour; the head bluish-grey; the cheeks, neck, and breast,
also grey, with a purplish shade; the tail ash-colour; and
the neck adorned with a half-collar of black. Sometimes
the plumage is entirely white.

The common turtle (Columba Turtur), likewise found in
Asia, but migrating much further to the north than the last
species, is rather larger; the upper parts are brown; the
head and neck grey, the latter ornamented with a small patch
of black on each side; throat, neck, and breast, tinged with
red; the rest of the under parts white. This species visits
England in April or May, when its plaintive and tender
cooing may be heard in the thick woods where it makes
its nest; the female lays only two eggs. C. ¢urtur quits us
again in August; the principal locality in which it is seen
is Kent.

In Isaiah vi. we come to a somewhat obscure allusion
to the multitude of doves sometimes seen, and which may
206 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

remind the reader of the passenger pigeons of America:
“Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to
their windows?” ‘This text has been well illustrated by
Morier, in his ‘Second Journey.’ ‘In the environs of the
city (Ispahan) to the westward, near Zainderood, are many
pigeon-houses, erected at a distance from habitations, for
the purpose of collecting pigeons’ dung for manure. They
are large round towers, rather broader at the bottom than
the top, and crowned by conical spiracles, thtough which
the pigeons descend. Their interior resembles a honey-
comb, pierced with a thousand holes, each of which forms
a snug retreat for a nest. The extraordinary flights of
pigeons which I have seen upon one of these dwellings afford,
perhaps, a good illustration of the passage in Isaiah lx.,
‘Who are they that fly as a cloud,’ etc. Their great num-
bers, and the compactness of their mass, literally looked like
a cloud at a distance, and obscured the sun in their pas-
sage.” What gives an additional value to this illustration,
is the probability that similar dove-houses were in use
among the Hebrews ; for they certainly were so among their
Egyptian neighbours, as we see by the ancient paintings,
and in the mosaic pavement at Preeneste, where the dove-
cotes are such large round towers as Morier describes,
THE PIGEON. 207

decreasing in diameter upwards, but without the conical
- spiracles which we find in those of Persia*.”

The prophet Ezekiel makes use of this gentle bird as a
simile, in foretelling the desolation of Israel : “ But they
that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the moun-
tains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every
one for his iniquity.” The oriental doves harbour much in
the trees round the cities, and even in courts of the houses;
and as they would naturally quit a scene of war and confu-
sion, for the quiet of the mountains, the comparison is very
appropriate for the terrified inhabitants of a besieged city.
The flight of doves, when alarmed, to the crevices of rocks
and mountains, has been often alluded to by poets; thus
Homer describes the flight of Diana from Juno, under the
simile of a dove:

“So when the falcon wings her way above,
To the cleft cavern speeds the gentle dove,
Not fated yet to die.”

“The dove, in Christian art, is the emblem of the Holy
Ghost, and besides its introduction into various subjects
from the New Testament,—as the Annunciation, the Bap-
tism, the Pentecost,—it is placed near certain saints, who

* Pictorial Bible.
208 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

are supposed to have been particularly inspired, as St.
Gregory, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Hilarius, and others.
The dove is also a symbol of simplicity and purity of heart,
and, as such, is introduced into pictures of female saints, and
especially of the Madonna and child. It is also the emblem
of the soul ; in this sense it is seen issuing from the lips of
dying martyrs, and is found in pictures of St. Eulalia of
Merida, and of St. Scholastica, the sister of St. Benedict*.”

Orprr GRALLATORES.

Staututo.—The Ostrich. (Plate XIV.)

This bird is distinguished by its wings being very little
developed ; they are well adapted to assist it in running,
but are totally incapable of raising it in the air, as well by
the different character of the plumage, as by their want of
sufficient size and extension.

Struthio Camelus, the ‘“‘Camel-bird,” so called from the
resemblance its form bears to that well-known animal, is
seven or eight feet in height, measuring to the top of the
head ; the head is small, and, with the neck, is destitute of

* Mrs. Jameson’s ‘Legendary Art.’
THE OSTRICH. 209

feathers; the thighs, also, are bare, and the legs hard and
scaly ; it has two very large toes of unequal size. The
plumage of the male bird is black, that of the female
dusky, with the exception of the wings and tail, which are
in both cases white: the loose and flexible plumes of the
former have been, from their great elegance, much prized
in all ages as ornaments, and are still a valuable article of
commerce. ,

The hunting of the ostrich is extremely arduous, as the
bird surpasses in swiftness the fleetest horse, so that it easily
“scorneth the horse and his rider ;” but the mode adopted
by the Arabians and Africans, is to continue the chase as
long as possible, when a fresh man and horse take up the
pursuit, until the poor bird is completely worn out. The
female lays ten or twelve eggs in a hole in the sand, brood-
ing over them during the night, and only leaving them
during the extreme heat of the day, when her care and
assiduity are not required. The author of the book of Job
refers to this peculiarity, when he says, “‘ Which leaveth her
eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth
that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may
break them ;” but there seems less foundation than was for-
merly supposed, for the idea that the ostrich is as careless

P
210 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

of her young, as she is accused of being in the books of Job
and Lamentations: “She is hardened against her young
ones, as though they were not hers;” and again, “The
daughter of my people is become cruel like the ostriches in
the wilderness.”

In procuring the eggs, the natives are obliged to be very
careful in not touching with their hands those that are left,
as the parent birds would be sure to discover it, and would
not only desist from laying again in the same place, but
would break all the remaining eggs; these eggs weigh about
three pounds each, and are said to be a great delicacy. The
ostrich feeds on grass, grain, etc., and is very voracious ; it is
common in the deserts of Arabia, and frequent allusions are
made to it by Arabian poets.

“There are two names by which this bird is mentioned in
Scripture—‘ renonim,’ as in the present text (Job xxxix.),
and frequently by the poetical designation of ‘dath-hay-
yanah, ‘the daughter of screeching,’ which has usually been
rendered ‘owl’ in our version. This designation, doubtless,
arose from the doleful noises made by the female ostrich in
her native deserts, and which have been particularly noticed
by various travellers*.”

* Pictorial Bible.
TRE CRANE. 211

Grus crverga.—The Crane. (Plate XIV.)

The crane is a very noble bird, frequently measuring five
feet in height; its form is slender, and its carriage erect ;
the bill is about four inches long, straight, compressed, and
pointed; the forehead is covered with down, through which
the skin appears red; the plumage is dark grey, variegated
with black and light ash-colour; from the pinion of each
wing arises a beautiful tuft of loose curling feathers, which
hang gracefully over the tail, somewhat resembling, in their
flexibility and texture, the plumes of an ostrich. The female
lays two greyish-green eggs, spotted with brown; construct-
ing its nest among the reeds and flags growing on the banks.
of streams and rivers.

The chief haunt of these birds is marshy places, and they
formerly visited such localities in England, but have been
driven away by the advance of civilization. In summer they
spread themselves over the north of Europe and Asia, even
to the Arctic circle, and in winter are found in Syria, Egypt,
and India. During their migratory journeys, cranes soar
very high in the air, taking bold and distant flights, during
which their peculiar cry may frequently be heard, when the
bird itself is beyond the gazer’s ken. The unerring instinct
shown by the crane in its migration, is celebrated in Jere-
212 POPULAR SCRIPTURE: ZOOLOGY.

miah viii.: “ Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her ap-
pointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow
observe the time of their coming.”

ARDEA CINEREA.—The Heron.

This bird is only mentioned in Leviticus xi. and Deu-
teronomy xiv., and being named in both places without any
characterizing additions, it is quite impossible to identify the
species; even the genus has been much disputed, though
without coming to any more satisfactory conclusion. The
original word anaph signifies to breathe short, as in anger ;
and A‘lian says the heron understood the human voice so
perfectly, as to become angry when charged with idleness, by
the ancient Egyptians, who employed this bird in fishing.
“Tf this was true at the Exodus, the bird must have been
familiarly known to the Israelites, and the probability is
thus strengthened that the heron is really intended.”

The heron is distinguished from the crane and stork, to
which it is nearly allied, by its smaller size, its longer bill,
and by the middle claw on each foot being serrated, thus
affording a better hold on its slippery prey. The common
heron is remarkably light in proportion to its size; its length
is more than three feet, its breadth five, yet it weighs little
more than three pounds; the bill is six inches long, straight
THE HERON. . 213

and pointed; the plumage is a mixture of black, white, and
grey, the wings and back being of the latter colour, the
sides of the breast and body a deep black, which also spots
the fore part of the neck, while parts of the head, neck,
breast, and wings are pure white; the head is adorned with
a pendent crest of black feathers; the female is destitute of
this long crest, having only a short dusky plume, and her
plumage is in general grey. She lays from four to six eggs,
of a pale greenish-blue colour, the nest being built on trees,
with sticks, and lined with grass, or wool. Herons reside
on the banks of rivers and lakes, or in marshes; their food
consists of fishes, frogs, and field-mice, insects, snails, and
worms ; they build in large societies. Herons inhabit Africa
and Asia, migrating from the colder countries, but remaining
stationary in temperate climates, such as England. There
are numerous species and varieties of this bird, both in the
eastern and western hemispheres.

The Great White Heron (Herodias alba) may be easily
known from the common species, by its white plumage ; it is
also rather smaller, the.tail and legs longer, and it is des-
titute of a crest. This species is far less numerous ; though
generally inhabiting the same countries, it is rarely seen in
England.
214 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The Night Heron (Nycticoraz griseus) is also widely dis-
persed over Europe and Asia, as well as America.

The Purple-crested Heron (Ardea purpurea) is also found
commonly in the west of Asia and north of Europe, but
Ardea cinerea is probably the species referred to in the
Scriptures.

The flesh of the heron was, according to our translation
(Leviticus xi.), interdicted to the Hebrews; but it was
formerly held in high estimation in England. The hawk-
ing of herons was also a great amusement of kings and
nobles, on which account great care was taken to preserve
the species: a fine of twenty shillings (a very heavy one in
those days) was exacted for each egg destroyed.

Mr. Edwards, in his very interesting narrative of a ‘ Voy-
age up the Amazon,’ mentions, among other large birds,
various species of herons, meeting the eye of the traveller
in every direction. “Upon the trees,” he says, “were
perched birds of every variety, which flew before our ad-
vance at short distances, in constantly increasing numbers,
or curving, passed ‘directly over us. Upon some topmost
limb, the great blue heron, elsewhere shyest. of the shy, sat
curiously gazing at our approach. Near him, but lower
down, herons, white as driven snow, some tall and majestic
THE HERON. Q15

as river Naiads, others small, and the pictures of grace, were
quietly dozing after their morning’s meal. Multitudes of
night herons, with a loud quack, flew startled by; and now
and then, but rarely, a boat-bill, with his long-plumed crest,
would scud before us.”

Mr. Waterton, in speaking of the destruction to fish,
caused by the neighbourhood of a heronry, says, “I attri-
bute the bad character which the heron has with us, for
destroying fish, more to erroneous ideas, than to any well-
authenticated proofs that it commits extensive depredations
on our store-ponds. Under this impression, which certainly
hitherto has not been to my disadvantage, I encourage this
poor persecuted wader to come and take shelter here; and
I am glad to see it build its nest in the trees which over-
hang the water, though carp, and tench, and many other
sorts of fish are there in abundance. Close attention to its
habits has convinced me that I have not done wrongly.
Let us bear in mind that the heron can neither swim nor
dive, wherefore the range of his depredations on the finny
tribe must necessarily be very circumscribed. In the shal-
low water alone can it surprise the fish, and even there,
when we see it standing motionless, and suppose it to be
intent on striking some delicious perch or passing tench, it
216 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

is just as likely that it has waded into the pond to havea
better opportunity of transfixing a water-rat lurking at the
mouth of its hole, or of gobbling down some unfortunate
frog which had taken refuge on the rush-grown margin of
the pool.”

BoravRvs sTELLARIS.—The Bittern.

This bird belongs to a subgenus of the heron family, liv-
ing in woody swamps and marshes, and feeding on aquatic
animals, frogs, lizards, and insects. The bittern is nearly
as large as the common heron, but its body is more plump,
and its legs stronger; the bill is strong at the base, straight,
and tapering to an acute point; the head is covered with
long black feathers; the neck-feathers are also long and
loose, and the bird can raise or depress them at pleasure;
the general colour of the plumage is a dull, pale yellow,
the back and wings marked with black uneven lines and
streaks; the tail is very short. The female is rather smaller
than the male, her plumage not so bright, and the feathers
‘on the neck shorter. She makes a rude nest, composed of
withered stalks and leaves, laying from four to six eggs, of a
greenish-white.

The bittern is a solitary bird, never seen on the wing in
the day-time, but remaining concealed in the reeds and
THE BITTERN. 217

rushes where it makes its habitation; its cry, when flying
at a vast height, and the hollow booming noise it makes
during the night, are both very peculiar and remarkable.
The habits of this bird are alluded to in Isaiah xiv., when
speaking of the threateried destruction of Babylon, “I will
also make it a possession for the bittern and pools of water,
and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the
Lord of Hosts ;” and again in Zephaniah ii., in foretelling
the destruction of Nineveh, “ And flocks shall lie down in
the midst of her, all the beasts of the nation: both the cor-
morant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it,
their voice shall sing in the windows.”

And truly a more melancholy sound could hardly be
heard in a deserted city, mingled with the howlings of the
“beasts of the nations,” than the voice of the bittern; and
“desolation” must indeed “be in the thresholds” when
such were the inhabitants. Bitterns remain in England
throughout the year, as well as in the temperate parts of
Europe, but in severe climates they are migratory ; there
are many species found both in hot and cold climates, all
resembling the common one in its principal characteristics,
but differing in size and colour. They were formerly much
esteemed as food.
218 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Ciconta.—The Stork. (Plate XIV.)

The White Stork (Ciconia alba) is upwards of three feet
six inches long; the whole of the plumage is of a pure
white, with the exception of the wings, which are black ;
the bill, seven inches in length, is of a fine red colour; the
legs are also red; the neck is long and arched, the feathers
near the breast pendulous.

This bird inhabits the warmer regions of the globe, but
resorts to higher latitudes in order to hatch its young
(Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed
time,” Jer. viii.) ; never, however, being found in summer
farther north than Russia or Sweden, nor in winter farther
south than Egypt, where it is constantly seen during that
season. Before storks take their departure they assemble
in large flocks, making a clattering noise, and appearing to
be all bustle and consultation ; but when they are actually
about to leave, the whole body become silent, and move at
once, generally in the night*.”

The female lays from two to four white eggs, on which
the male and female sit by turns; the large and compact nest
is usually built on the tops of churches, temples, and lofty
ruins, and in the East on the chimneys by which apartments

* Maunder’s Treasury.
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THE STORK. 219

are ventilated : these are its usual and favourite resorts, but
that it sometimes builds on trees, appears from the passage
in the 104th Psalm, “ As for the stork, the fir-trees are her
house ;” and as the stork will build in any situation rather
than on the ground, it is probable that it chooses high trees
where its usual localities are wanting, which may often be
the case in eastern countries, where the flat roofs are a part
of the house much occupied by the family. Shaw says,
that in Barbary the stork builds in the fir and other trees ;
but these birds certainly prefer the neighbourhood of man,
from whom they always receive protection, as they have
for ages been considered sacred ; probably from their grave
appearance, their usual selection of sacred buildings for
their resort, and their tender affection, not only for their
young, but for the old and feeble.

Among the ancients, to kill a stork was considered a great
crime, sometimes even punished with death; and at the pre-
sent time, in Turkey, Persia, and Egypt, or in those parts
of Europe to which they resort, any man would become an
object. of execration, who should injure one of these favoured
birds, or destroy its nest, so much has its amiable and
confiding disposition gained it the protection and esteem
of man.
220. POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

In Holland the stork is protected because it helps to
check the increase of reptiles in the low and marshy lands ;
the Tarks and Arabs treat it with great hospitality ; in Con-
stantinople the bird is so familiar, as to build in the streets.
It is very common in Asia, and Shaw mentions having seen
flights passing over Mount Carmel (in their migration from
Egypt), which were a mile in breadth, and took three hours
before they had all passed over the point of observation.

The food of storks consists of serpents, lizards, small fish,
and many noxious reptiles. Probably its interdiction by
Moses, as an article of diet for the Israelites (Leviticus xi.),
was owing in a great measure to the nature of its food,
which renders the flesh very rank and unpalatable; perhaps
also blended with a regard for its services in clearing the
land of such creatures, and the general esteem with which
its character was viewed.

The original word, which our translators have rendered
* stork,” is “ chasidah,” a name indicative of pity and be-
nignity, proving that the qualities of this bird were very
early noticed and admired; it is particularly abundant in
Egypt and the western parts of Asia, so that the Israelites
had favourable opportunities of becoming soquainted with
its peculiarities.
THE STORK. 22)

The Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) is not so large as the
preceding species ; its head, neck, wings, back, and tail, are
of a dusky hue, glossed with green and purple; the under
parts and breast, pure white; the beak, throat, and legs are
deep red. This bird is not so common as the white stork,
though inhabiting many parts of Europe; it frequents so-
litary places, thus differing from its relative; it also builds
on trees, laying two or three eggs; its flesh is quite unfit
for food. The American Stork (Ciconia Maguari) is very
similar in plumage to the common white stork, but it i is
said to be very good food.

An interesting story is told of a white stork in the town
of Delft, illustrative of the tender affection which these birds °
bear to their young. A fire broke out in the house on
which a stork had built her nest, then containing young
birds incapable of flight ; the old stork, returning with some
food, saw the danger to which they were exposed (the fire
having nearly reached the nest), and made several efforts
to save them, but finding this impracticable, the devoted
mother at last spread her wings over her little ones, and in
that endearing attitude, expired with them in the flames.

Dr. Herrmann says he has seen a stork play at hide-and-
seek with a group of children, run its turn when touched,
222 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

and distinguish the child who was to pursue the rest, so
well as to be, along with the rest, on its guard.

Insts RELIGIOsA.—The White Ibis. (Plate XV.)

The genus dis closely resembles the stork in habits and
in general conformation; the species chiefly inhabit warm
countries, but, with the exception of the very cold regions,
they are to be met with in most parts of the world. The
beak is long, arched, thick at the base, but growing slender
towards the tip, which is rounded; the head and throat are
bare; the legs are long, the three front toes webbed as far
as the first joint, the hind toe very long. The ibis frequents
the banks of rivers and lakes, feeding on insects, mollusca,
worms, and sometimes on vegetable substances: its flight
is very lofty and powerful. There are various species.

The Glossy Ibis (Zéis falcinellus) is about two feet in
length. The neck, breast, upper part of the back, and
under parts of the body, are of a bright chestnut colour ; the
wing-coverts, tail, and remainder of the back, of a dusky
green, glossed with purple and bronze. This species is seen
in flocks of thirty or forty, on the banks of streams in Asia,
where they build, migrating periodically to Egypt, and
visiting Hungary, Turkey, Greece, and, very rarely, Switzer-
land, Holland and England.
THE IBIS. 223

The Scarlet Ibis (Z2s# rubra) is a very handsome species,
a native of the hottest parts of America, and, as its name
imports, of a brilliant scarlet colour; other species are found
in India, Africa, and Madagascar.

The White or Sacred Ibis (dis reigiosa) is about the size
of a common fowl; the head and neck are bare; the plu-
mage principally white, marked with glossy black, an elegant
plume adorns the hinder part of the body; the bill and feet
are black. “This,” says Cuvier, “is the most celebrated
species ; it was reared in the temples of ancient Egypt with
veneration which approached to worship; and was em-
balmed after death,—as some said, because it devoured the
serpents, which would otherwise have become dangerous to
the country ; according to others, because its plumage resem-
bled some of the phases of the moon; finally, according to
some, because its advent announced the rising of the Nile.”
Their mummies are found in the catacombs of ancient
Memphis; and they are figured on Egyptian monuments.
The sacred ibis is supposed by most commentators to be
referred to, in Leviticus xi., under the name of “ yanshuph,”
translated “great owl,’ and forbidden as food to the
Israelites.
224 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Orpern PALMIPEDES.

Petecanus.—The Pelican. (Plate XV.)

This genus contains several large web-footed birds, re-
siding on rivers, lakes, or the sea-coast, and feeding on fish.
The bill is long, straight, broad and depressed, and furnished
with a large pouch, capable of containing several fish, or a
quantity of water amounting to twenty pints; the face and
throat are bare; the legs short and strong; all the four toes
webbed. Pelicans are gregarious, and the species are widely
distributed, though not very numerous. Broderip says, that
“in feeding their nestlings, the under mandible is pressed
against the neck and breast, to assist the bird in disgorging
the contents of the capacious pouch, and during this action,
the red nail or hook on the upper mandible would appear
to come in contact with the breast, thus laying the founda-
tion, probably, for the fable, that the pelican nourishes her
young with her blood.”

The Common Pelican (Pelecanus Onocrotalus) has the
plumage of a pure white, faintly tinged in parts with pale
rose-colour; the pouch is bright yellow; the length of the
bird is between five and six feet, expanse of the wings
twelve or thirteen. About the middle of September flocks
THE PELIOAN. 225

of pelicans repair to Egypt, but during the summer months
- they take up their abode on the shores of the Black Sea and
in Greece; very rarely they are seen in France, but never
in England. They breed in marshy districts, making a large
nest of aquatic plants, lined with soft grass; the eggs are
two in number, white, and equally round at both ends; the
female feeds her young with fish, that has been macerated
in her pouch: they are distinguished from the parent birds
by a prevalence of ash-colour in their plumage.

The pelican is mentioned amongst the forbidden birds in
Leviticus xi., and again in Psalm cii. as an emblem of de-
solation, “I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like
an owl of the desert,” which agrees admirably with the well-
known habits of the bird. Captain Flinders thus describes
the pelicans which he saw while on his voyage of discovery,
at “ Terra Australis :”—“ Flocks of the old birds were sit-
ting on the beaches of the lagoon, and it appeared that the
islands were their breeding-places; not only so, but from
the number of bones and skeletons there scattered, it would
seem that they had for ages been selected for the closing
scene of their existence. Certainly none more likely to be
free from disturbance of every kind, could have been chosen,
than these islets in a hidden lagoon of an uninhabited island,

a
226 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

situate upon an unknown coast near the antipodes of
Europe; nor can anything be more consonant to the feel-
ings, if pelicans have any, than quietly to resign their
breath, whilst surrounded by their progeny, and in the
same spot where they first drew it.” The beautiful poem
of ‘The Pelican Island,’ by Montgomery, was founded on
this passage.

In many places, pelicans are almost regarded as sacred
birds; for instance, a correspondent of the ‘ Atheneum,’
when travelling in Persia, speaks of “an immense flock of
pelicans, which got up out of the reeds, and flew across our
course, many passing quite close to the peak of our sail.
One of our Greek servants, Yanni, a Cypriote, drew his
pistol, to fire at them; but his arm was caught by an
Arnout, who told him the bird was sacred, pelicans having
brought water in their bill-pouches to Ali after a battle,
when he lay on the desert faint with extreme heat and
toil*.”

“The pelican tearing open her breast to feed her young
with her own blood, was an early symbol of our redemption
through Christ: one or both of these emblems” (the pelican
or the lamb) “are frequently found in ancient crosses and

* Maunder’s Treasary.
THE TERN. 227

crucifixes, the lamb at the top, the pelican at the foot of
the cross*.”

Srerna Hirvnpo.—Common Tern, or Sen Swallow.

This bird is about fourteen inches in length; the bill is
crimson tipped with black, and above two inches long; the
neck, back, and wings are bluish-ash, the latter being very
long, the under parts pure white ; the breast slightly shaded;
the long forked tail white; legs and feet red, the three front
toes webbed; the forehead and top of the head deep black.

The tern is met with in many parts of Europe and Asia,
and is common during summer on our sea-coasts, rivers,
and lakes. The female makes her nest in the grass or moss
near the water, laying three or four eggs, of an olive-colour,
spotted with black. Wilson says, “The flight of the terns,
and indeed of the whole tribe, is not in the sweeping,
shooting manner of the land swallows, notwithstanding
their name; the motions of their long wings are slower,
and more in the manner of the gull. They have, however,
great powers of wing, and strength in the muscles of the
neck, which enable them to make such sudden and violent
plunges, and that from a considerable height too, headlong
on their prey.”

* Mrs. Jameson’s ‘ Legendary Art.’
228 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Terns feed principally on the fry of fishes, which they are
very expert in twitching out of the shallow water. They
leave the high rocks to the gulls, petrels, and other sea-
birds, but abound on low sandy shores, frequently deposit-
ing their eggs on the bare sand, above high water-mark.
During the day, the eggs are left to be hatched by the heat
of the sun; but the birds are far from abandoning them.
They are never far off, and the instant any one approaches
they are in a state of great excitement, wheeling about in
the air, and endeavouring, both by their voice and move-
ments, to attract the attention of the visitor. “‘ Indeed, if
he walk along for some distance where the beach is favour-
able for them, he may have a guard of terns the whole way;
for one pair hand over the traveller to another, and he con-
tinues to get well scolded until he is fairly out of the do-
main of the terns*.”

There are several other species. The Black Tern (Sterna
nigra) is occasionally seen in Britain, but differs little from
the last in size and colour. The Roseate Tern (8. Dougalii)
is found only by the sea, principally on the shores of the
Baltic, rarely in Britain, and varies in plumage from 8. Hi-
rundo, by having a rosy tint on the neck and breast.

* British Cyclopedia.
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THE CORMORANT. 229

The tern is believed by commentators to be intended
under the name of “cuckoo” in Leviticus xi., as the ori- .
ginal word “shackaph” denotes slenderness; and from
both the Greek and Vulgate versions, it is.supposed that
a small kind of sea-fowl is meant. Some writers think that
the sea-mew may be the bird alluded to.

Puatacrocorax CarBo.—The Common Cormorant.

This bird varies in size from thirty inches to three feet
in length, and above four feet in breadth with the wings ex-
tended ; the bill measures four inches, and is of a dark colour ;
the tip of the upper mandible is much hooked, the lower
compressed ; the skin about the chin and neck is capable
of distension, so as to form a kind of pouch; the eyes have
a peculiar and remarkable stare, and there is a bare yel-
lowish space round them. The top of the head and the
neck are black, and the former has a short crest; the breast
and all the under parts are black, glossed with green; the
tail and legs black. _

Cormorants may be found in every climate, usually as-
sembling in large flocks, on the high rocks of the sea-
shore, upon which the female constructs her nest, of sea-_
weeds, sticks, and grass, laying four or five greenish-white
eggs; they live on fish, which they catch with the greatest
2380 POPULAR SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

dexterity, dropping down from a great height on their prey,
diving with astonishing rapidity, and emerging with the
fish across the bill. They toss it into the air with a peculiar
jerk, and catching it head foremost, swallow the poor victim
whole. In some places the cormorant moves inland, to
lakes or large rivers, and in these situations is seen stand-
ing or nestling on trees.

These birds have been tamed in various countries, and
trained to fish for the benefit of man; in England they
were hoodwinked like falcons, and a leather thong placed
round their necks, to prevent them swallowing the fish.

Mr. Waterton’s description of these singular birds is so
graphic and interesting that I shall present it to my readers.

“The cormorants,” he observes, “often pay me a visit
in the winter season ; and could they but perceive that there
is safety for them here, and great danger elsewhere, they
would remain with me while the water is unfrozen. But
they wander, unfortunately, through parts where protection
is not afforded them; and, being outlandish birds in the
eyes of the neighbouring gamekeepers, they are immediately
shot at: those which find their way here, are so uncon-
scious of danger, that, after they have spent a considerable
portion of time in diving for fish, they will come and
“THE OORMORANT. 231

-preen their feathers on the terrace which rises from the
water, within ten yards of the drawing-room windows.
“The cormorant may be justly styled the feathered terror
of the finny tribe. His skill in diving is most admirable,
and his success beyond belief: you may know him at a
distance among a thousand water-fowl, by his upright neck,
by his body being apparently half-immersed in water, and
by his being perpetually in motion when not on land.
While the ducks, teal, and widgeon are stationary on the
pool, the cormorant is seen swimming to and fro ‘as if in
quest of something.’ First raising his body perpendicu-
larly, down he plunges into the deep; and after staying
there a considerable time, he is seen to bring up a fish,
which he invariably swallows head foremost. -Sometimes
half an hour elapses before he can manage to accommodate
a large eel quietly in his stomach. You see him straining
violently, with repeated efforts to gulp it; and when you
fancy that the slippery mouthfall is successfully disposed of,
all on a sudden the eel retrogrades upwards from its dismal
sepulchre, struggling violently to escape. The cormorant
swallows it again, and up again it comes, and shows its tail
a foot or more out of its destroyer’s mouth. At length
worn. out with ineffectual writhings and slidings, the eel is
282 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

gulped down into the cormorant’s stomach for the last time,
there to meet its dreaded and inevitable fate.”

The flesh of this bird is very rank and offensive, and was
prohibited as food to the Hebrews (Leviticus xi.). There
are many species or varieties in different parts. of the world,
but their habits are everywhere the same. The cormorant is
again mentioned by the prophets Isaiah and Zephaniah, in
connection with the bittern, and as an emblem of desola-
tion; but the marginal reading gives “pelican” as the
more probable meaning, and the habits of the two birds
are favourable to this interpretation.

Cxyenus.—The Swan.

The genus Cygnus is distinguished by the graceful and
majestic appearance of the birds composing it, by their
muscular power, and large size. The generic characters are,
a beak of equal breadth throughout, depressed at the point;
the neck very long and slender; the legs short, with the
hind toe small and free, the rest webbed. Swans feed chiefly
on the seeds and roots of aquatic plants, and on the grass
which grows on the brink of the water; the plumage is
alike in both sexes.

The Wild Swan (Cygnus ferus) is about four feet and a
half long, the extent of the wings being above five feet ; the
THE SWAN. 238

plumage is white, with a tinge of yellow on the head and
neck ; and the bill black. This bird is found in the northern
parts of both the eastern and western continents. In severe.
winters they migrate to the south, and are seen on the
shores of England and France, but do not reach the south
of Europe, excepting very rarely: as soon as spring is felt
they return northward to spend the summer, and rear their
broods; great numbers being then found in all the Polar
regions. During their migratory journeys they fly very
high, to avoid the powerful falcons of the north; and as
their weight and size is great for so lofty a flight, the swan
almost invariably goes with the wind, halting if it be ad-
verse; before a strong and favourable breeze, they advance
at the rate of not less than one hundred miles an hour.

The female builds a large but rude nest, near the water;
she lays from four to seven eggs, which are very thick and
strong, of a rusty-brown colour, marked with white. The
inhabitants of the northern regions eat the cygnets, and
make considerable use of the skins of the full-grown birds,
sewing them together, and thus forming strong and warm
garments: the down, feathers, and quills are also of great
value as articles of commerce.

The voice of the wild swan, in spite of the ‘well-known
234 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

fable of its death-song, is harsh and unmusical; but there
is a mournful tone and a depth of sound im it, which cer-
tainly gives it somewhat the expression of a dying lament.

The Mute or Tame Swan (Cygnus olor) differs from the
last. species in size and form, being shorter and thicker
in proportion, but longer in the wings, as they measure up-
wards of seven. feet; the bill is also red instead of black ;
and the plumage is more delicately white.

“This species cannot be strictly called domesticated ;
they are only, as it were, partly reclaimed from a state of
nature, and invited by the friendly and protecting hand of
man to decorate and embellish the artificial lakes and pools,
which ornament his pleasure-grounds. On these, the swan
cannot be accounted a captive; for he enjoys all the sweets
of liberty. Placed there, as he is.the largest of all. British
birds, so is he to the eye the most pleasing and elegant.
‘What in nature,’ exclaims Bewiek, ‘can be more beautiful
than the grassy-margined lake, hung round with the varied
foliage of the grove, when contrasted with the pure resplen-
dent whiteness of the majestic swan, wafted along with
erected plumes by the gentle breeze,-or floating, reflected
on the glassy surface of the water, while he throws himself
into numberfess graceful attitudes, as if desirous of attract-
THE SWAN. . 235

ing the admiration of the spectator!’ The tame swan is
found in its wild state in the eastern countries of Europe
and Asia*.”

The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is principally of a deep
black colour, as its name imports; the beak is red; it in-
habits various parts of Australia; and the Swan River de-
rives its name from the abundance of these birds. Their
habits are but little known; their note is rather melodious,
though of short continuance. This species has been lately
introduced into England, and i is no longer the “rara avis”
it was formerly considered.

There are some smaller species in the tropical countries
of Africa and America, bearing a great resemblance to
geese, and they are by some authors considered and de-
scribed as such.

The swan is mentioned in Leviticus xi. as the translation
of the word “ tinshemeth ;’ some commentators think the
Gallinula Porphyrio, or purple water-hen, is intended. This
beautiful bird abounds in the rice-fields of Lower Egypt,
appearing in May and the following months, and sometimes
breeding in the deserts; it is also found in the islands of
the Levant. It is nearly eighteen inches long, and about

* Maunder’s Treasury.
236 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

sixteen in height; the plumage deep blue, mingled with
red. It feeds on grain, plants, and roots, and is partial to
fruit and fish: the nest is placed in the thick herbage of
flooded fields, and is composed of sticks and plants; the
female lays three or four eggs. The Greeks and Romans
tamed this interesting and beautiful bird, introducing it
into their palaces and temples. There are various species,
which are called Sultana hens by some writers: they belong
to the order Gallinida.

Should the supposition be correct, that this bird is in-
tended by the “swan” of Leviticus xi., still this latter bird
is not excluded, as the Septuagint understands it to be the
“ gier eagle” mentioned immediately after; the signification
pointing out some bird noted for its attachment to its
young, for which quality the swan is particularly famed,
as, notwithstanding its generally peaceful disposition, it will
attack even man in their defence.
287

Crass REPTILIA.

_—__—

Orper CHELONIA.

Trsropo.—The Tortoise, or Turtle.

This genus of reptiles is distinguished by having the body
enclosed in a double case or shell, which allows the head
and neck, the tail and four limbs to protrude: they are
quiet, harmless animals, almost unequalled for longevity,
very slow in their movements, and obtuse in all their sen-
sations. They generally inhabit the warmer regions of the
earth, though many species will bear the cold of northern
climates, where they pass the winter in a state of torpor.
The genus is divided into land and aquatic animals, known by
the respective names of tortoises and turtles ; in the former
the upper shell, or shield, is much more arched than in the
latter, the flatter form of the turtle being suitable to move-
ment in a liquid medium ; the feet have also a different form,
being more compressed, and somewhat like a paddle.
288 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The Common or Greek Tortoise (Zestudo Graca) is sup-
posed to be a native of all the countries bordering on the
Mediterranean: its usual length is six or eight inches, and
the weight about forty-eight ounces when full grown; the
upper shell is oval, extremely convex, and composed of
thirteen middle pieces, and about twenty-five marginal ones,
of a dark brown colour, varied with bands of yellow; the
under shell is of a pale yellow or citron-colour, with ‘a
blackish zone on each side; the head is small; the eyes
small and black, the mouth not extending beyond them;
the legs are short; the feet rather broad, and the tail also
short, and terminated by a pointed, horny tip.

There are many other species, differing in size, colour,
and form; such as Testudo geometrica, a small species with
a black shell, each scale adorned with yellow lines, radi-
ating from the centre; and Testudo Indica, a very large
species, found in the East Indies, the Indian Archipelago,
etc. One of these animals, presented to the Zoological So-
ciety, measured in length four feet four inches, and weighed
two hundred and eighty-five pounds; it had lived seventy-
seven years at Port Louis in the Mauritius.

The Green or Edible Turtle (Chelonia Midas) is one of
the largest species of the aquatic Chelonte, measuring often
THE TURTLE. 2389

more than five feet in length, and weighing five or six. hun-
dred pounds; its colour is a dull pale brown, varied with
darker markings. It is found on the coasts and islands of
all the tropical regions, and in great abundance both in the
East and West Indies.

These animals feed on a kind of grass which grows at the
bottom of the sea, often called turtle-grass, and they are
much esteemed for the delicacy of their flesh. They are
usually taken at the Bahama Islands, by means of a small
iron peg, fastened to the end of a long wooden staff. The
natives are very expert at catching turtle, watching them as
they return to and from their nests, and turning on their
backs all they meet, as the poor animals have not the ability
to rise, and are thus quite in the power of their destroyers.
Sir J. Alexander calls the Island of Ascension “the head-
quarters of the finest turtle in the world ;” and Mr. Darwin,
in his ‘Journal,’ gives the following account of the method
employed in catching them:—-“I accompanied Captain
Fitzroy to an island at the head of the Lagoon; the channel
was exceedingly intricate, winding through fields of deli-
cately-branched corals. We saw several turtles, and two
boats were then employed in catching them. The method
is rather curious: the water is so clear and shallow, that
240 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

although at first a turtle quickly dives out of sight, yet in a
canoe or boat under sail, the pursuers, after no very long
chase, come up to it. A man standing ready in the bows
at this moment dashes through the water upon the turtle’s
back; then clinging with both hands by the shell of the
neck, he is carried away till the animal becomes exhausted,
and is secured. It was quite an interesting chase to see the
two boats thus doubling about, and the men dashing into
the water, trying to seize their prey.”

The Imbricated or Hawksbill Turtle (Chelonia imbricata)
is a native of the Asiatic and American seas, and is occa-
sionally found in the Mediterranean. It measures. about
three feet in a general way, though specimens have been
seen twice that size: the flesh is held in no estimation, but
the plates of the shell are stronger, thicker, and clearer than
in any other kind, and afford the valuable substance called
tortoise-shell: the best is brought from the shores of the

Spice Islands and New Guinea.

The female turtle deposits her eggs in the sand, on the
shores of the sea and banks of rivers; there she hollows out
a strong vaulted nest, thus giving the eggs (which amount
to a hundred) the full benefit of the sun. The shell is
solid, and the form nearly globular.
THE TORTOISE. 241

There are many other species, but these will suffice as
examples.

The habits of the tortoise in a state of domestication are
amusingly described by Gilbert White, in his ‘ Natural His-
tory of Selborne:’ “A land-tortoise, which has been kept
for thirty years in a little walled court belonging to the
house where I am now visiting, retires underground about
the middle of November, and comes forth again about the
middle of April. When it first appears in the spring it dis-
covers very little inclination towards food, but in the height
of summer grows voracious, and then, as the summer de-
clines, its appetite declines, so that for the last six weeks in
autumn it hardly eats at all. Milky plants, such as lettuces,
dandelions, and sow-thistles, are its favourite dish.” In a
neighbouring village one was kept till, by tradition, it was
supposed to be a hundred years old—an instance of vast
longevity in such a poor reptile. In another letter he says,
“On the Ist of November I remarked that the old tortoise
began first to dig the ground in order to the forming of its
hybernaculum, which it had fixed upon just beside a great
tuft of hepaticas. It scrapes out the ground with its front
feet, and throws it up, over its back, with its hind; but
the motion of its legs is ridiculously slow, little exceeding

R
249 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the hour-hand of a clock.” The author mentions also the
great aversion this animal showed to rain, which seems rather
unaccountable, when it is remembered that the shell will
bear the pressure of the wheel of a loaded cart. He bears
testimony to the grateful disposition of the tortoise, “for,
as soon as the good old lady comes in sight who has waited
on it for more than thirty years, it hobbles towards its bene-
factress with awkward alacrity, but remains inattentive to
strangers. Thus not only ‘the ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master’s crib,’ but the most abject reptile, and
most torpid of beings, distinguishes the hand that feeds it,
and is touched with feelings of gratitude.” —

In the author’s family, one of these creatures, brought ~
from the African coast by a relative, was domiciled for some
years, and always made its winter residence in a warm slip-
per, which, after its wishes became apparent, was appro-
priated to its use, and lined with flannel. Several speci-
mens were brought at the same time,—one, quite an infant
tortoise, not two inches long,—but they none of them sur-
vived the second winter, with the exception of the one men-

_tioned above.

“There are various opinions as to whether the word ren-

dered tortoise in Leviticus xi. 29 really denotes that animal,
 

Lizards.
LIZARDS. 243

or a species of lizard. The original word ‘¢zab’ imports
a swelling, and may have been applied to the StelZio epinipes,
which has a swollen body : it is entirely of a beautiful green,
with small spines on its thighs, and upon the ridge of the
tail. It is found in the deserts about Egypt*.”

The ferret, chameleon, lizard, snail, and mole of the next
verse are all supposed by the best commentators to signify:
some species of lizard (Plate XVI.), and are thus described
and explained in the valuable notes to the ‘Pictorial Bible:’-—

“The Ferret—‘Anaka’—perhaps the Lacerta gecko of
Hasselquist, or Gecko lobatus of Geoffrey, a species of lizard
found in countries bordering the Mediterranean ; it is of a
reddish-grey, spotted with brown. It is thought in Cairo
to poison the victuals over which it passes, and especially
salt provisions, of which it is very fond. It has a voice re-
sembling that of a frog, which is intimated by the Hebrew
name, importing a sigh or groan.

“CHAMELEON—‘ Coach’—probably Lacerta Scincus, or
Scincus officinalis ? This is a species of lizard found in Arabia,
Nubia, and Abyssinia, It is remarkable for the readiness
with which it forces its way into the sand when pursued, a
proof of its strength and activity, which seems to be inti-

* Pictorial Bible. |
244 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

mated in the Hebrew name coach, force and prowess.
There is another species of Scincus, S. Cyprius, which is of
a very large size, and abounds in the Levant; it is green,
with smooth scales. This was perhaps included under the
common term coach.

“ Lazarv— Letaah.’—The original word signifies to ad-
here, and may, therefore, very well apply to the Gecko des
murailles, the Steliio of the Latins. It is a frightful animal,
covered with tubercles, and of a grey colour. It lives in
holes of the walls, and under stones, and covers itself with
dirt, which is perhaps alluded to by the sense adhering,
which the name conveys.

“ Sna1t.—‘ Chomet,’ in Chaldee, signifies to bow down ;
it therefore suggests the Lacerta stellio, which is noted for
bowing its head, insomuch that the followers of Mahomet
kill it, because they say it mimics them in the mode of re-
peating their prayers. It is about a foot in length, of an
olive colour, shaded with black.

“More—‘ Tinshemeth.’—As this word comes from a
root signifying to breathe, we may apply it to the chameleon,
which has lungs of such vast dimensions, that, when filled,
the body is so much dilated as to appear transparent. The
varying capacity of their lungs enables them, by exposing
FIERY SERPENTS. 245

a greater or less portion of blood to the influence of the air,
to alter the tincture of the circulating fluid at pleasure,
which when sent to the surface must tend to give a colour
more or less vivid to the skin. The chameleon, or Lacerta
Africana, is a native of Egypt, Barbary, and the south of
Spain.”

The Lacertida, or true Lizards, as well as the Chame-
leonida, belong to the Class Ruprriia, Order Sauria.

Orpsr OPHIDIA.

VirzRs.—The Viper.

A genus, or rather family, of poisonous serpents, which
have poison-fangs, but no other teeth. The family is divided
into four sections: the first have the scales of the head of
nearly the same size and character as those on the upper
part of the body; the second have plates on the top of the
head, but the poison-fangs apart, like the former; the third
have the tail flattened for swimming; the fourth have the
fangs in the same row with other teeth, but larger. The
Vipera, or vipers, properly so called, belong to the first
section.
246 POPULAR SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The shephiphon, translated adder in Genesis xlix., “ Dan
shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path,” is
supposed to be the Vipera or Coluber cerastes, the horned
viper, which measures generally less than two feet; it is
distinguished by a small horn or protuberance over each
eye, and is remarkable for lurking in the sand, and biting
the heels of horses, causing immediate torpidity in the legs.
The grey colour of these reptiles renders them difficult to be
distinguished from the sand, in which they conceal them-
selves; thus adding to the danger, and verifying the latter
part of the same verse, “ that biteth the horse’s heels, so that
his rider falleth backwards.”

The Adder is a species of the same genus, and the word
is frequently used indiscriminately with viper. In the
104th Psalm the original word which is there rendered
adder occurs for the only time, and it is of course difficult
to determine precisely what species is alluded to. The
proper meaning of the original word akshud is, coiling
or bending back; but this action is common to most ser-
pents, and in all probability no one species is meant,. as
the expression “ Adders’ poison is under their lips” may be
equally applied to a variety of venomous serpents. In the
58th Psalm, the word adder also occurs, but the marginal
THE ADDER. 247

reading gives the word aap, which in the notes to Job xx.*,
where the term occurs twice, is thus described :—-“ The word
in the original is pethen, and very probably denotes the
aspic of antiquity; the ancient writers, however, make
mention of it in so loose and indefinite a manner, that it is,
perhaps, not easy to determine the species: in name and
description, it agrees best with the pethen of the Hebrews;
and the aspic of profane antiquity is the detan of the
Arabians. It is poisonous in the highest degree: the body
of the sufferer swells, and death almost immediately ensues.
The literati of Cyprus regarded it as the ancient aspic; the
common people call it £uji (deaf), and in Psalm lviii. we ac-
tually find deafness ascribed to the pethen—‘ Like the deaf
adder, that stoppeth her ears.’ The dafan is about a foot in
length, and two inches in circumference ; its colour is black
and white. In the same chapter and 16th verse, the viper is
named, the Hebrew word being ephaA, and it seems probable
that it denotes the same serpent which is known in Arabia
by the name of EY Hfah, and is remarkable for its subtle
poison ; it is about two feet long, and as thick as a man’s”
arm, beautifully spotted with brown and yellow. The
mouth is very wide, and the animal inhales a great quantity
* Pictorial Bible.
248 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

of air, again ejecting it with such force as to be heard at a
great distance.” Captain Riley, in his ‘Authentic Narrative,’
describes the colours of this serpent as “the most beautiful
in nature.”

Some naturalists consider the Coluber aspis, or asp of
antiquity, to be that to which the Arabs give the name of
El Haji, it is of a green colour, marked obliquely with
brown bands, and measuring from three to five feet in
length; the asp is celebrated in history as the instrament
by which Cleopatra destroyed herself, after the defeat of
Antony at the battle of Actium. Lord Bacon says that its
bite is the least painful kind of death, and supposes its
poison to have some affinity to opium. The cockatrice, men-
tioned in Isaiah xi., ‘And the sucking child shall play on the
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on
the cockatrice’ den,’ is still supposed to be the adder. The
Viper is again named in Acts xxviii., when St. Paul, on being
cast on the island of Melita (Malta), was bitten by one; both -
Jews and heathens considered serpents to be often the
agents of God’s punishments, and the natives of Melita
believed from this accident that Paul was a murderer,
whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suf-
fereth not to live.” The Talmud relates the story of a man,
FIERY SERPENTS. 249

who, having killed his friend, was immediately bitten by a
serpent and died.

With regard to the “fiery serpents” mentioned in Num-
bers xxi., it is much disputed whether the word seraphim, or
ery, is given them from their brilliant appearance, or from
the agony caused by their bites; the Septuagint translated
the phrase “deadly serpent,” and the Arabic version of the
Pentateuch has “serpents of burning bites,” both of which
favour the latter opinion. In Deuteronomy viii. the country
through which the Israelites passed is described as “ the
great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and
scorpions and drought, where there was no water.” Burck-
hardt mentions the extraordinary number of serpents found
in the same region to this day, but unfortunately does not
name the species. He says, “ Ayd told me that serpents
were very common in these parts, that the fishermen were
much afraid of them, and extinguished their fires in the
evening before they went to sleep, because the light was
known to attract them.” As serpents, then, are so numerous
on this side, they are probably not deficient towards the head
of the gulf on the opposite shore, where it appears the
Israelites passed when they journeyed from Mount Hor by
the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom,
250 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

and where ‘the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people.’
Herodotus also mentions the extraordinary number of ser-
pents existing in the same locality; but the superstition of
the Hebrews naturally ascribed any appearance for which
they could not account, to the peculiar and immediate in-
terference of the Divine being, and thus frequently, from a
simply natural cause, they inferred a miraculous intervention.
The brazen serpent made by Moses, was afterwards wor-
shipped by the Hebrews, till broken in pieces by command
of Hezekiah. Serpent-worship was common in all the nations
of antiquity, who derived it from Egypt, where the Cerastes,
or horned serpent, was sacred to Ammon, and was interred
after death in his temple. The serpent supposed to be
the El Haji, also symbolized the ‘good genius’ among the
Greeks and Romans, and they worshipped the‘ healing power
Asculapius under the same figure. It is somewhat remark-
able, that under all the modifications of serpent-worship,
the serpent was made the deified symbol of something good
and beneficent; the Egyptians regarded it as a symbol of
‘the good god,’ and probably the Israelites, with a recollec-
tion of its origin, looked on the brazen serpent as symboli-
cal of the divine healing power, and as such resorted to it,
and burned incense before it when afflicted with disease,
THE ADDER. 251

much in the same manner that the classical ancients resorted
on similar occasions to the serpent symbol of the healing
god Aisculapius.

“Tn all venomous serpents, there is a gland near the
eye for secreting the poisonous fluid, which is conveyed in
a small tube to the end of a fang, which in a state of rest
reclines backwards along the margin of the jaw, and is
covered by a fold of skin, but when used, it is erected by
means of a small muscle. The poisonous fluid is inodorous,
tasteless, and of a yellow colour; when the animal inflicts a
wound, the pressure on the tooth forces a small drop of
poison through the orifice of the tooth, which flows into the
wound. The manner in which the blow is struck is as
follows : the animal generally throws itself into a coil, more
or less close, and the anterior part of the body is raised ;
the neck is bent somewhat abruptly backwards, and the
head fixed almost horizontally ; in an instant the head is, as
it were, launched by a sudden effort towards the object of
its anger, and the erected tooth struck into it with the velo-
city of thought. It is found by experience that the effect
of subsequent wounds is greatly diminished, either by the
diminution of the quantity of venom, or by the deterioration
of its strength, so that if a venomous serpent be made fre-
252 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

quently to inflict wounds, without allowing sufficiently long
intervals to elapse for it to recover its powers, each succes-
sive bite becomes less and less effective*. The situation
of the poison, which is in a manner behind the upper lip,
gives great propriety to the expression ‘adders’ poison
is under their lips.’ The usage of the Hebrew language
renders it by no means improbable, that the fang itself is
called a tongue in the same verse, ‘they have sharpened
their tongue like a serpent, as a serpent might be said to
sharpen its tongue when, in preparing to strike, it protruded
its fangt.””

There are so many allusions in the Bible to serpent-
charming, that this slight notice would be incomplete with-
out some allusion to a practice so well known, and early
alluded to. In the 58th Psalm the following expression
occurs, in speaking of the wicked, “They are like the
deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken
to the voice of the charmer, charming never so wisely,”
or, as the marginal reading explains it, “be the charmer
never so cunning ;” in Ecclesiastes x., “Surely the serpent
will bite, without enchantment ;” and again in Jeremiah
viii, “ Behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices among you,

* Bell’s ‘ British Reptiles.’ + Pictorial Bible.
SERPENT CHARMING. 253

which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith
the Lord.”

Serpent-charmers were formerly, and generally still are,
distinct tribes of men, in their different countries; the most
famous charmers of antiquity were the Psylli, a people of
Cyrenaica, whose power is attributed by Pliny to some par-
ticular odour in their persons, which was disliked by the
serpent. Lucan was of the same opinion; and he describes
the measures by which they cleared the Roman camp.
When the encampment was marked oat, they marched
round, chanting their charms, the mystic sound of which,
chased the serpents far away ; not trusting, however, to this,
they kept up large fires of different kinds of wood, the smell
of which prevented the serpents from approaching ; but if,
in spite of these precautions, any soldier was bitten, the
Psyili then exerted their powers to effect acure. The mea-
sures they employed for this purpose are so well. described
in the following lines from Lucan’s ‘ Pharsalia,’ that they
require no further illustration :—

“*Then sudden he begins the magic song,
And rolls the numbers hasty o’er his tongue ;
Swift he runs on, nor pauses once for breath,
To stop the progress of approaching death :
254 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

He fears the cure might suffer by delay,

And life be lost but for a moment’s stay.

Thus oft, though deep within the veins it lies,
By magic numbers chased, the mischief flies ;
But if it hear too slow—if still it stay,

And scorn the potent charmer to obey,

With forceful lips he fastens on the wound,
Drains out and spits the venom to the ground.”

In this account the voice is alluded to, and it is to the
voice of the charmer that the Psalmist refers. Mr. Roberts
says that the following form of words is considered in India
the most potent charm :—“O serpent, thou who art coiled
in my path, get out of my way, for around thee are the
mongoos, the porcupine, and the kite in his circles is ready
to take thee.”

The Egyptian charmer also employs vocal sounds, and a
form of words, to draw these venomous creatures from their
retreats. Mr. Lane says, “He assumes an air of mystery,
strikes the wall with a palm-stick, whistles, makes a cluck-
ing sound with his tongue, and spits upon the ground,
generally saying, ‘1 adjure ye by God, if ye are above, or if
ye be below, that ye come forth; I adjure ye by the most
great name, if ye be obedient, come forth, and if ye be dis-
obedient, die! die! die!’” In these cases it is of course the
SERPENT CHARMING, 255

mere sound of the voice, the whistling and clucking, that is
the effective part of the process.

Music is also much used, such as flutes, pipes, whistles,
and drums, to lure the serpents from their retreats, and,
when tamed, to induce them to dance, and perform move-
ments regulated by its sound. It is not very difficult to
-believe that these creatures may be influenced by music, as
well as many other animals, or that its proper regulation
may have been rendered effectual by men who, for succes-
sive generations, have given the subject their attention. Sir
William Jones enumerates, in the ‘ Asiatic Researches,’
many instances of the effect of music on animals, and adds,
“A learned native of India told me that he had frequently
seen the most venomous and malignant snakes leave their
holes on hearing notes from a flute, which, as he supposed,
gave them peculiar delight.”

There are, in spite of their pretensions, no well-authen-
ticated proofs of the insensibility of these men to the poison
of serpents; though they frequently allow themselves to be
bitten, yet it is confessedly only by those snakes which have
been deprived, wholly or in part, of their venomous powers
by the extraction of the fangs: those in the natural state,
which they certainly do handle at times very fearlessly, are
256 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

probably seized and held in a manner which prevents their
biting, and this knack, acquired by long practice, will ac-
count for the many wonderful stories related; but when
their readiness and presence of mind fail, they die as others,
from the deadly bite. Roberts mentions an Indian serpent-
charmer who came to a gentleman’s house to exhibit his
tame snakes: he was told that there was a cobra di capello
in a cage, and asked if he could charm it; “Ob, yes,” said
the charmer, and the serpent was accordingly released from
its cage ; the man began his incantations, but the reptile
fastened upon his arm, and he was dead before night. The
serpent “would not hearken to the voice of the charmer.”
What an interesting confirmation is this of the truth of the
text !

In the ‘ Missionary Magazine’ for March, 1837, it is stated
that some incredulous persons, after taking every precaution,
sent a serpent-charmer into their garden. ‘The man began
playing with his pipe, and proceeding from one part of the
garden to another, for some minutes: he stopped at one
part of the wall, much injured by age, and intimated that
there was a serpent within.” (This faculty of discovering
serpents is attributed by Mr. Lane to their peculiar smell.)
“He then played quicker, and his notes were louder, when
SERPENT CHARMING. 257

almost immediately a large cobra di capello put forth its
head, and the man fearlessly ran to the spot, seized it by the
neck, and drew it forth. He then showed its poison-fangs,
and beat them ont; afterwards it was taken to the room
where his baskets were left, and deposited among the rest.”
Does not this explain what follows in the next verse—
“Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth”?

“The mode of exhibiting these serpents, thus rendered
harmless, is much the same everywhere: the sap-wullah
(charmer) applies his pipe to his mouth, after placing se-
veral different kinds on the ground, and sends forth a few
peculiar notes, on which all the serpents stop, as though
enchanted ; they then turn towards the charmer, approach-
ing him within two or three feet, raise their heads from the
ground, and bending backward and forward, keep time with
the music; when that ceases, they drop their heads and
remain quiet on the ground*.” Other serpent-charmers
allow large serpents to twine round their bodies, as if merely
to show their perfect tameness, and the impunity with which

they are able
**To dally with the crested worm,
To stroke his azure neck, or to receive
The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue.”

* Pictorial Bible.
258 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The serpent Zl Haje, or Naia Haje, has been much used
by jugglers, who, by pressing the occiput, or hinder part of
the head, can make it as stiff as a stick, thus alternately
seeming a rod or a living serpent. Will not this faculty
account for the apparent miracle performed by the Egyptian
magicians, mentioned in Exodus? It is represented con-
stantly in Egyptian paintings as an emblem of the protect-
ing divinity, and as such is always placed on the portals
of their temples; the power it has of erecting itself when
alarmed or excited is probably the reason why the office of
guardian was bestowed on it.

Orpen BATRACHIA.

Rana.—The Frog.

This well-known little animal is hatched from a gelati-
nous, transparent egg, one of a clustered mass deposited by
the parent in March. In each of these eggs may be seen a
small, round, black globule, which gradually takes the form
of a tadpole, remaining for a month or five weeks enclosed
in the jelly-like substance, enlarging in size, and during
the last four or five days giving evident signs of movement.
THE FROG. 259

When extricated from the gluten they feed on its remains,
and on examination are now found to be furnished with a
pair of branchis, which disappear after a certain time.
These little creatures present an appearance so unlike frogs,
that persons not conversant with natural history would with
difficulty believe in their identity; they appear to consist
simply of a round, black head, and a long, slender tail,
bordered with a very broad, transparent margin. Their
movements are remarkably lively and elegant, and to the
microscopist tadpoles are a great source of interest, from
the extreme beauty of the circulation of the blood, which
can be distinctly seen with a good microscope. When they
have reached the age of five or six weeks the hind legs
appear, and are succeeded in about a fortnight by the fore
legs ; the animal now partakes of the appearance both of
a frog and a lizard, but the tail continuing to decrease,
becoming at length totally obliterated, the frog becomes
perfect, and is seen on the banks of the waters in which, as
a tadpole, it has hitherto existed. It now feeds on animal
food, such as insects, snails, and worms, the structure of
the tongue being particularly well calculated for securing
the former prey, as it is very long, and the tip bifid and
glutinous.
260 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The muscular formation in the frog is very singular, and,
in many respects, more nearly resembles that of man than
any other animal. Mr. Broderip observes that “we find
the rounded, elongated, conical thigh, the knee extending
itself in the same direction with the thigh-bone, and a well-
fashioned calf to the leg. It is impossible to watch the
horizontal motions of a frog in the water, as it is impelled
by its muscles and webbed feet, without being struck by
the complete resemblance, in this portion of its frame, to
human conformation, and the almost perfect identity of the
movements of its lower extremities with those of a man
making the same efforts in the same situation. By the aid
of these well-developed lower limbs, and the prodigious
power of their muscular and bony levers, a frog can raise
iteelf in the air to twenty times its own height, and traverse,
at a single bound, a space more than fifty times the length
of its own body.”

Frogs are very tenacious of life, and as they are about
four years in coming to maturity, they probably would live
to the age of twelve if their many enemies by land and
water did not cut short their natural term of existence.

The common frog varies considerably in colour: the ge-
neral tinge is olive-brown, spotted on the upper part of the
THE FROG. 261

body and limbs with irregular blackish marks; the under
parts are of a pale greenish-yellow ; like all other species that
are in the habit of casting their skins, there is much dif-
ference in the brightness and intensity of the colours at
different times; the teeth are very small; the eyes large and
brilliant ; the ears are placed behind them, and covered by
a membrane; the hind feet are strongly webbed, to aid the
animal’s progress in the water, to which it sometimes retires
during the great heat of summer, and in the frosts of winter,
when it lies in a torpid state buried in the soft mud at the
bottom of stagnant waters.

The frog mentioned in Exodus viii. as having “ covered
the land of Egypt” is the Rana punctata, or dotted frog, its
ashy-coloured surface being marked with green spots. The
feet of this species are banded transversely, and the toes are
separated half their length ; it changes colour when alarmed ;
it is rare in Europe, though still very abundant in the
Nile and other waters of Egypt. It was one of the sacred
animals of the ancient Egyptians.
262

Crass INSECTA.
—~—

Ozprr COLEOPTERA.

CoLEOPTERA.—Beetles.

The word Coleoptera signifies ‘wings in a sheath;’ the
whole Order are produced from eggs, they then become
grubs, afterwards change into chrysalides, and at length the
perfect insect makes its appearance. The distinguishing
characteristic of the Order is the conversion of the first pair
of wings into elytra, or hard wing-cases, which completely
enclose the second pair when the insect is at rest. The body
is generally of an oval form, and the head is provided with
two antennz, composed of eight or ten pieces, with the ex-
tremities club-shaped; the eyes are large and prominent.
The larvee are soft, flexible, whitish worms, with the body di-
vided into twelve rings, and a sealy head, armed with strong
jaws; in this state they live in the earth, feeding on the
BEETLES. 263

roots of vegetables, or decomposed animal matter: it is in
this stage of their existence that many of the species prove
so injurious to farmers and gardeners from their numbers
and voracity. When about to change into the pupa state,
they make an egg-shaped cocoon, from fragments of wood,
etc., united by a glutinous fluid, which exudes from their
bodies.

Though many tribes of beetles are enemies to vegetation,
yet many more prove most serviceable to man in various
ways. Such are the Tiger Beetles (Cicindelida), the Ground
Beetles (Carabidaz), the Ladybirds (Coccinellida), and others
which prey upon caterpillars, aphides, etc.; others, too nu-
merous to mention, act the part of scavengers, removing
carrion and other offensive refuse; many, also, clear the
earth of the poisonous fungi which in a state of decay are
so injurious and disagreeable to man; the properties and
uses of the Blistering Beetles (Cantharida) are-very well
known.

In the expression made use of in Exodus viii., “I will
send swarms of flies upon thee,” great latitude is given to
conjecture, as the word “flies” is not mentioned in the
original, either in the 21st or in the succeeding verses.
“The Hebrew word is arob, which implies a mixture; the
264 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Vulgate has translated it ‘all sorts of flies,’ and from thence
our version ‘swarms of flies,’ where it is to be observed
that ‘flies,’ in italics, is not in the original. We are left
to conjecture what kind of fly is meant, or whether, indeed,
the plague consisted in flies at all. The language of the
24th verse is remarkable, ‘the land was corrupted by rea-
son of the swarm,’ which could hardly apply to any ‘fly’
properly so called. If also we refer to Psalm Ixxviii., we see
the arob is described as devouring the Egyptians, which is
an act that seems inapplicable to a fly. Upon the whole,
We strongly incline to the opinion which has found some
able supporters of late years, that the Egyptian beetle (Blatta
Afgyptiaca) is denoted in this place. The beetle, which is
almost everywhere a nuisance, is particularly aburidant and
offensive in Egypt, and all the circumstances which the
Scripture in different places intimates concerning the arod,
applies with much accuracy to this species. It devours
everything that comes in its way, even clothes, books, and
plants, and does not hesitate to inflict severe bites on man.
If also we conceive that one object of these plagues was to
chastise the Egyptians through their idols, there is no
creature of its class which could be more fitly employed
than this. insect. What precise place it filled in the
BEETLES. 265

religious system of that remarkable people, has never, we
believe, been exactly determined; but that it occupied a
considerable place among their sacred creatures, seems to
be evinced by the fact, that there is scarcely any figure
which occurs so frequently in Egyptian sculpture and paint-
ing. Visitors to the British Museum may satisfy them-
selves of this fact, and they will also observe a remarkable
colossal figure of a beetle in greenish-coloured granite.
Figures of beetles cut in green-coloured stone ocour fre-
quently in the ancient tombs of Egypt. They are generally
plain; but some have hieroglyphic figures cut on their
backs, and others have been found with human heads. The
Egyptian beetle is about the size of the common beetle, and
its general colour is also black; it is chiefly distinguished
by having a broad white band upon the anterior margin of
ita oval corselet *.”

The word rendered “beetle” in Leviticus xi., in all pro-
bability referred to one of the locust family, as the de-
seription of those insects which alone were to be eaten, is
much more applicable to that tribe of insects than to beetles,
few of which have the power of leaping.

* Pictorial Bible.
266 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Orper ORTHOPTERA.

GRYLLUS MiGRATORIUS.—The Locust.

The family Locustida is distinguished from the remainder
of the group (which includes the crickets and grasshoppers)
by having the wings deflexed (bent down) and short an-
tenn : the former peculiarity separates it from the crickets
(Acketida), and the latter from the grasshoppers (Gryliida).
Modern naturalists also apply to them the term Saltatoria,
on account of the leaping powers possessed by some of the
species. They have coloured elytra, and large wings, placed
when at rest in straight folds, covered by long narrow wing-
cases; the antennse are short; the feet have three joints;
and the hind legs are long and very powerful, enabling the
insect to take long leaps.

The most celebrated species is the Migratory Locust
(Gryllus migratorius or Locusta migratoria), noted for its
marvellous powers of destruction. It is generally of a
brownish colour, varied with pale red, the legs of a bluish
cast. There are many other species: one closely resembling
Gryllus migratoriue is frequently met with in South Ame-
rica, committing great ravages, but not comparable in num-
bers to the swarms of the eastern hemisphere.
N

THE LOCUST. 267

Locusts often visit Poland and the south of Europe, and
there have been instances of their reaching our shores, but
the climate of England is happily not suited to their pro-
duction. The female deposits her eggs in cylindrical bur-
rows, several inches long, which may be easily found, as
the aperture is not closed: these eggs are hatched the fol-
lowing year, when the weather is dry and hot ; the number
in each tube is about fifty, they are enclosed in a common
envelope.

In Syria, Egypt, and the southern parts of Asia and
Africa, this most destructive insect makes its appearance in
vast swarms, not only bringing desolation and famine into
the most fertile regions, by devouring every kind of vege-
tation, but causing the most fearful pestilence by the putre-
faction of their dead bodies. Mr. Barrow states, in his
‘Travels,’ that in the southern parts of Africa the whole
surface of the ground might literally be said to be covered
by them, for an area of 1800 square miles. When driven
into the sea by a north-west wind, they formed upon the
shore, for fifty miles, a bank three or four feet high, and
when the wind was south-east, the stench was so powerful
as to be smelt at the distance of a hundred and fifty miles ;
the air, in short, became poisoned by their fetid exhalations.
268 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Of the multitude of the incomplete larve which infested
every part of Africa at that time, no adequate idea can be
conceived, without having been an eye-witness.

As locusts fly in compact bodies, they are very much
affected by the wind, and a strong gale will frequently dis-
perse or destroy their devastating hosts. There is also an
allusion to this in Psalm cix.,“‘I am tossed up and down
as the locust.”

Mr. Barrow adds:—‘The locusts had completely destroyed
every green leaf and every blade of grass, and had not the
insulated reeds of the river afforded subsistence for our cattle,
our journey must have been ended for want of food. To
the southward, where these swarms had already been, the
traces of their route appeared as if the surface had been
swept by a broom, or as if a harrow had been drawn over
it. In coming to the first troop, the waggons, as usual,
drove right through them, when they rose up on each side
like a cloud, and the horses crossed the group in a gallop:
those that escaped from being crushed immediately squatted
down again. They swarmed in thousands into our tents,
to devour the crumbs of bread that fell on the ground. The
present year was the third of their continuance in this part
of the colony ; their last departure, with its result, is rather
THE LOCUST. 269

singular, and it was confirmed by the inhabitants of the
lower part of the colony. All the full-fledged insects were
driven by a tempestuous north-west wind into the sea, and
afterwards thrown back upon the beach, where they formed
a bank three or four feet high, between the mouths of the
Bosjemans river and the Becha.”

St. Augustine mentions a visitation of this nature in Nu-
midia and the adjacent countries, which produced so direful
a pestilence as to destroy 800,000 people, Plinytells us,
that in some parts of Greece there were laws compelling
the inhabitants to destroy these insects in the three states
of egg, larva, and imago, or perfect insect, and in the isle
of Lemnos each citizen was bound to supply a certain num-
ber of locusts annually, to keep down their numbers.

The first mention of the locust in the Bible is found in
Exodus x., as one of the plagues inflicted on the land of
Egypt: ‘And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine
hand over the land of Egypt, for the locusts, that they may
come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the
land ;” and the terrible nature of this visitation may be
gathered from numerous sources, both ancient and modern.

One example has already been given from a modern tra-
veller; and, turning to the prophet Joel, the reader will
270 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

find the following powerful description of this scourge :—
“A nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without
number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the
cheek-teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste,
and barked my fig-tree; he hath made it clean bare, and
cast it away, the branches thereof are made white.” And
again, “The appearance of them is as the appearance of
horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise
of the chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap,
like the noise as of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble,
as a strong people set in battle array. Before their faces
shall the people be pained; all faces shall gather black-
ness, They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb
the wall like men of war, and they shall march every one on
his way, and they shall not break their ranks*. Neither
shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his
path; and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be
wounded, They shall run to and fro in the city; they
shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the
houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

* The running and walking here described, refers principally to the pupe:
and larves of the insect, these modes of progression being adopted until they
arrive at the state of maturity, when their wings are developed.
THE LOCUST. 271

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall
tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars
shall withdraw their shining.”

The description by almost any modern writer of the ap-
pearance and the destructive ravages of a swarm of locusta, ©
would exactly illustrate, in most of the details, this fine me-
taphorical account of their approach; and a very slight
consideration will show that an army of locusts was, in fact,
even more to be dreaded than any other enemies. Volney,
in his ‘Travels in Egypt and Syria,’ says, “Syria, as well
as Egypt, Persia, and almost all the south of Asia, is sub-
ject to another calamity no less dreadful than earthquakes,
I mean those clouds of locusts so often mentioned by tra-
' vellers. The quantity of these insects is incredible to all
who have not themselves witnessed their astonishing num-
bers: the whole earth is covered with them for the space of
several leagues. The noise they make in browzing on the
trees and herbage may be heard to a great distance, and
resembles that of an army foraging in secret. The Tartars
themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little
animals; one would imagine that fire had followed their
progress. Wherever their myriads spread, the verdure of
the country disappears as if a covering had been removed ;
272 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

trees and plants, stripped of their leaves, and reduced to
their naked boughs and stems, cause the dreary image of
winter to succeed in an instant to the rich scenery of
spring. When these clouds of locusts take their flight
to surmount any obstacle, or to traverse more rapidly a
desert soil, the heavens may be literally said to be obscured
by them.”

These last words are an ample comment on the expres-
sion, “The sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars
shall withdraw their shining.” Many authors have also
noticed a resemblance between these insects and the horse,
particularly in the form of the head—‘ The appearance of
them is as the appearance of horses;” and this expression
may also refer to the strength and rapidity of their move-
ments. Isaiah says, in speaking of the enemies of the
church, “As the running to and fro of locusts, shall he
run upon them,” giving the same idea of swiftness. And.
in Revelation ix. there is another allusion to this apparent
resemblance to the horse in appearance : “ And the shapes
of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle;
and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots
of many horses running to battle.”

By the law of Moses, locusts were permitted as food,—
THE rocust. 273

“Even these of them ye may eat: the locust after his kind,
and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his
kind, and the grasshopper after his kind ;” and it is sug-
gested, with great probability, that the four insects here
named “indicate the four leading genera of the locust
family, of which the domestic cricket, the mole cricket, the
green grasshopper, and the locust, may be taken as repre-
sentatives.” ‘The Israelites being in the Peninsula of
Sinai, where they received this law, it is a remarkable fact
that Burckhardt describes the present inhabitants of that
peninsula, as the only Bedouins known to him, who do not
use the locust as an article of food*.” In other parts of
western Asia they are commonly eaten, and in many
towns may be seen shops devoted exclusively to their sale.
They are prepared by being thrown into boiling water
mixed with salt; when taken out, the head, feet, and wings
are picked off, and they are kept in sacks for use. After-
wards they may be broiled, stewed, or fried in butter; and
though Europeans generally look upon them at first with
repugnance, they are said to bear a great resemblance to
shrimps or prawns. The reader will remember that these
insects are mentioned as forming part of the food of John
* Pictorial Bible.
T
274 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the Baptist while sojourning in the wilderness: “ And his
meat was locusts and wild honey.”

The grasshopper mentioned in various parts of the Bible
is supposed to be another species of locust, or to signify
merely that insect in its larva state. In Leviticus it is
named as an article of food, and this would apply to the
locust rather than the grasshopper, or might refer to the
larva of the former. In Ecclesiastes xii. the word again
occurs, in a striking description of the infirmities of age,
when even the grasshopper (or rather the locust, as being
the smallest article of food used by the Hebrews) “shall
be a burden.” Some authors, instead of “the grasshopper
shall be a burden,” would translate this passage, “the lo-
cust is a burden to itself,” thinking that the comparison
of an aged person to a locust is meant. Dr. Smith says,
“The dry, shrank, shrivelled, scraggy old man, his back-
bone sticking out, his knees projecting forward, his arms
backward, and his head downward, is not inaptly typified
by that insect ; and this is even still a common comparison
in the East. The idea appears to have been also familiar
to the classical ancients, for we find some engraved gems,
in which an emaciated old man is evidently represented by
a locust walking erect on its hind legs, and in which all
THE ANT. 275

the characteristics enumerated above are brought. out with
singular effect.” The fable of Tithonus, that, living to ex-
treme old age, he was at last turned into a grasshopper,
probably arose from this resemblance.

In Nahum iii. is the following verse: “Thy crowned are
as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers,
which camp in the hedges in the cold day; but when the
sun ariseth, they flee away, and their place is not known
where they are.” This description applies correctly to the
larva of the locust; for the female locust lays her eggs
under the shelter of a -bush or hedge, therefore the young
larvee swarm “in the hedges” about the middle of April;
and about the end of June, “ when the sun ariseth, they flee
away” (having attained their winged condition), and carry
to other regions the desolation they have already caused in
their immature state.

Orper HYMENOPTERA.

Formica.—The Ant.
This interesting and well-known insect resembles the
bees, in many of those particulars which distinguish them
276 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

from most other insects; for example, in having the larger
part of their community composed of workers, or imperfect
females, who seem to have the sole charge of the young
brood; for though the parent ant lays the eggs, they are
always under the superintendence of the workers, who re-
gulate the degree of heat and moisture necessary for hatch-
ing them. When the young grubs appear, it is on these
attentive nurses that the duty of feeding them devolves,
which they do, either with their own half-digested food,
or some peculiar fluid secreted for that purpose, and it
seems probable that more than one of these kind foster-
mothers is required for each larva. When the larvee are
full-grown, they enclose themselves in cocoons, in which
they undergo the rest of their change; and the attachment
of the workers to these cocoons is even greater than to the
eggs or to the young larve. They may be seen bringing
them out every fine morning, taking them in when the
heat is too intense, sheltering them from rain, and, although
only half the size of their nurslings, running with them as
fleetly as if they had no weight whatever. Their love for
these partially-developed young is so great, that they are
said to invade other ant-hills, to carry off all the cocoons
they can find.
THE ANT. 277

The food of ants varies greatly: they are fond of sugar,
gum, and all the sweet exudations of trees, but their staple
food is animal matter, either those larvee injurious to plants
and trees, or small animals whose dead bodies would taint
the air; thus, like every other living creature whose habits
are known, they are found to be beneficial to mankind, and
to the animal creation in general. Many birds use them
almost exclusively as food for their young: pheasants and
partridges seem particularly fond of them, both in their
mature and imperfect state. They are winged at one season
only, and the female soon rids herself of these appendages,
and seems inspired solely with the ambition of founding a
nation. When the supply of food begins to fail, they seek
their dwellings, and in the inmost recesses cluster together,
passing the winter-season in a state of torpor. The work-
ing ants are always wingless, and the females destitute of
a sting.

Proverbs vi. 6—“ Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider
her ways and be wise; which, having no guide, overseer,
or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth
her food in the harvest.” The common opinion concerning
ants laying up a store of corn for winter use, has arisen
from the superficial observation, of which these interesting
278 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

little creatures had been the subject, until lately, when the
researches of many eminent naturalists brought to light the
fact that the supposed grains of corn which are brought
out in the sunshine, and defended with so much care by
these industrious insects, are really cocoons, containing the
embryo ants, thus watched over by their careful nurses.
This circumstance at first sight appears inconsistent with,
and indeed contrary to, the text; but Messrs. Kirby and
Spence endeavour to reconcile the difference in the follow-
ing manner :—“Till the manners of exotic ants are more
accurately explored, it would be rash to affirm that no ants
have stores of provisions; for although during the cold
of our winters in this country, they remain in a state of
torpidity, having no need of food, yet in warmer regions,
during the rainy season, when they are probably confined
to their nest, a store of provisions may be necessary for
them. Solomon’s lesson to the sluggard has generally been ©
adduced as a strong confirmation of the ancient opinion : it
can, however, only relate to the species of a warm climate,
the habits of which are probably different from those of a
cold one, so that his words, as commonly interpreted, may
be perfectly correct and consistent with nature, yet not be
at all applicable to the species that are indigenous to Europe.
THE ANT. 279

Solomon does not, however, affirm that the ant, which he pro-
poses to the sluggard as an example, laid up in her maga-
zine stores of grain: but that, with considerable pradence
and foresight, she makes use of the proper season to collect
a sufficient quantity of provisions for her purposes. She
prepares her bread, and gathers her food, namely, such food
as is suited to her, in summer and harvest, that is, when it
is most plentiful: and thus shows her wisdom and prudence
in using the advantages offered to her.”

But for the reason above stated, namely, the difference in
climate, this celebrated text may still be quite true, in its
best understood sense, of the ants in tropical climates ; for
Lieutenant-Colonel Sykes gives an account of the habits of
an East-Indian species, which lays up a store of grass-seed
in January and February, sufficient to last until the middle
of the year: he found them employed, after the thunder-
storms of October, in drying the remains of their store,
which had been wetted by the rain.

It is probable that Solomon refers to no particular species
of ant, for the whole family is noted for unwearied industry
and perseverance, giving us an example of care in observing
times and seasons; of kindness, in the. zeal and alacrity
with which the overtasked are assisted ; of judgment, in the
280 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

exertions of each individual for the benefit of the commn-
nity; and of wisdom, in the co-operation of numbers in a
good and useful object: all these qualities show the value
of the injunction “Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider
her ways and be wise.”

The British species might be cited as sufficient examples,
but those of Asia and Africa afford more wonderful proofs
of persevering energy in rearing buildings, compared to
_ which (when the relative size of the architect is considered),
our most stupendous structures sink into insignificance.
The mason ant constructs an earthern hillock, the interior
of which exhibits labyrinths, lodges, vaults, and galleries,
many of the nests having twenty stories above, and as many
below ground, thus providing the inhabitants with warm or
cool apartmenta, according to the weather.

The carpenter ants form their chambers and galleries in
the trunks of trees; other species construct nests on the
branches, varying in shape and dimensions; but the build-
ings erected by the Termites, or white ants of tropical cli-
mates, surpass all others in size and architectural wonders.
These edifices are more than five hundred times the height
of the builders, so that if our houses were built in the same
proportion, they would be twelve or fourteen times the
THE BEE. 281

height of the Monument, and four or five times that of the
Pyramids, which we consider so marvellous a work. The
interior is crowded with apartments, galleries, and maga-
zines, a royal chamber for the queen, nurseries for the
young, and food magazines. Many interesting perticulars
might be given of these little architects, whose history and
economy resemble, in many respects, those of the bee and
ant; but as they are not, properly speaking, ants at all
(though erroneously so called), belonging even to a distinct
order (Nesroptera), it is very uncertain whether they were
alluded to in the text, more particularly as they are mach
more common in Africa than Asia, and might be unknown
to the Royal Psalmist.

Some species of ant is even now very abundant in Pales-
tine, for the traveller, Ali Bey, describes the road to Jaffa,
from El Arisch, as, for three days’ journey, one continued
ant-hill.

Apis.—The Bee. Se

The species of this interesting and useful insect, referred
to in the Bible, is probably the Apis fasciata of Latreille,
as that is the common bee of Egypt and Asia Minor; but
the habits of the genus are so similar, that a description of
the moet striking peculiarities in the Apis mellifiea, or com-
282 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

mon hive-bee of Europe, will form an appropriate introduc-
tion to the notices in Scripture history.

One of the most striking peculiarities in these insects is
the existence of those individuals which have been long re-
garded as, and called, neuters, but by more recent investi-
gation are found to be imperfect females; these constitute
the great mass of the population in every hive; to them is
committed the internal economy of the society, and on them
the whole labour of the community devolves. It is also
their duty to guard and protect the queen, to feed the
young, and to destroy the drones, or males, at the proper
season. .

“So work the honey-bees :
Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach
The art of order to s peopled kingdom.
They have a king, and officers of sorts,
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home ;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer’s velvet buds,
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor,
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold ;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey ;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
THE BEE. 283

Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate ;
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o’er, to executers pale,

The lazy, yawning drone.” —; e.

The perfect female, or queen, may be distinguished by
her superior size, her brighter colours, and her curved
sting ; the drones have no sting, the head is rounded, and
the eyes larger.

As soon as plants begin to flower, bees are in motion, for
the purpose of collecting honey and wax—the former of |
which is a sweet limpid juice found in the nectaries of
flowers, the latter, a secretion from the body of the work-
ing-bees : these materials, when brought to the hive, are
received by the labourers in waiting, who form cells of the
wax, which serve as storehouses for the honey and nests for
the young; the honey is partly distributed for present food,
and the remainder laid up for winter consumption.

The form of the cells is a great proof of admirable con-
trivance, being precisely of that shape which ensures both
the greatest saving of space and material. There are three
different kinds of cells: the first are for the larve of the
workers, and for containing the honey; the second, for the
grubs of the drones, which require to be larger than the
former; and the third (of which there are only a small
‘284 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

number) are destined for the future queens, and are of a
different form to the rest. The antennse seem to be the
organs by which the little architects regulate the shape of
their wonderful buildings. The first cells are all made of
the proper size and shape for the working-bees, but when
the queen is about to lay eggs which will produce drones,
the builders immediately change the dimensions of the cell
to suit the intended occupant; they also, at certain inter-
vals, construct royal cells, and about once in three days the
queen deposits an egg which is destined to produce a qneen.
Should the queen happen to die before having laid any of
these royal egys, the bees select one of those which would
have produced a working-bee; three cells are thrown into
one for ita reception; the grub, when hatched, is fed with
peculiar food, and a queen is produced, whereas, had it re-
mained in the original cell, and been fed with ordinary food,
it would have turned out only a working-bee. When the
first young queen is ready to leave her cell, the queen-
mother quits the hive, with a portion of the workers, to
form a new settlement, and successive swarms follow the
young queens as they come to maturity, thus relieving the
 over-burdened hive, and forming fresh communities.

The generic distinctions of the genus Apis consist prin-
THE BEE. 285

cipally in the length of the proboscis; the palpi are also
nearly obsolete; the legs are furnished with a pollen-plate,
and are destitute of spines; and the body is oblong.

The mention of honey occurs very early in the Sacred
Writings, being included in the presents sent by Israel to
his unknown son Joseph, when the latter was ruler in
Egypt: “And their father Israel said unto them, If it
must be so now, do this: take of the best fruits in the land
in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little
balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and
almonds.” ‘The learned authors of the ‘ Universal His-
tory,’ while adopting the view that the presents sent by
Jacob to the prime minister of Egypt must have consisted
of articles which that country did not afford, contend that
‘honey’ cannot be really intended, as it is not likely that
honey could be a rarity in Egypt. They therefore think
that dates are meant, which are called by the same name,
debash, and which, when fully ripe, yield a sort of honey
not inferior to that of bees. Now, on this very principle,
dates were still less likely than honey to have been sent, as
Egypt is a famous date-growing country. It is, however,
not necessary to understand honey here, as the word cer-
tainly does seem to imply different kinds of sweet things
286 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

and fruits, in different passages. Gesenius understands it
here to denote ‘syrup of grapes,’ that is, must, boiled to
the thickness of a syrup, which, as he observes, is still ex-
ported from Palestine, especially from the neighbourhood of
Hebron, to Egypt. If we take it to be really honey, we
‘must understand that the honey of Palestine was superior
to that of Egypt, and this is the opinion to which we in-
cline. At present the natives keep a great number of bees,
which they transport up and down the Nile, to give them
the advantage of different climates and productions. The
hives are kept in boats, and the bees disperse themselves
over the banks of the river in quest of food, returning re-
gularly on board in the evening*.”

In 1 Samuel xiv. is found another allusion to honey,
which Jonathan tasted, contrary to Saul’s command that
the people should fast during the battle with the Philistines.
“Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man
that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged
on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.
And all they of the land came to a wood, and there was
honey upon the ground. And when the people were come
into the wood, behold, the honey dropped, but no man put

* Pictorial Bible.
THE BEE. 287

his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. But
Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with
the oath; wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that
was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put
his hand to his mouth.” Amidst the superstition here re-
corded, it is interesting to note the habits of the wild bees,
which may be gathered from the above description: the
honey is spoken of first as being on the ground, and this,
though not a very common occurrence, is not incompatible
with the habits of the wild bee, as, for want of a better situ-
ation, these insects will form their combs in small hollows,
or in holes made by animals.

The story of Samson, recorded in Judges xiv., will here
occur to the reader’s memory, when a “swarm of bees, and
honey” were found “in the carcase of the lion” which
Samson had killed, and which gave rise to the celebrated
riddle, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the
strong came forth sweetness,” and from which resulted such
disastrous consequences to the Philistines. It may appear
strange that so clean a creature as the bee should select
such an apparently offensive place for a habitation; but it
must be remembered that some months had elapsed before
Samson’s second visit to the scene of his exploit,—ample
288 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

time, in that country, with the assistance of birds and beasts
of prey, to reduce the carcase of the lion to a perfectly clean
skeleton, in which state it would form an appropriate habi-
tation for these little insects.

Mr. Burchell, in his ‘Travels in South Africa,’ says, that
the Hottentots of his party obtained three pounds of good
honey from a hole, left by some animal of the weazel kind ;
it is also spoken of as dropping, doubtless from honeycombs
formed in the trees and shrubs. Where wild bees are
abundant they build in the cavities, or even on the branches
of trees; and in many parts of India and the Indian islands,
the forests swarm with these insects: Mr. Roberts says, that
“the forests literally flow with honey, large combs may be
seen hanging from the trees,” and, from the frequent allu-
sions in the Scriptures, this was very probably the case in
Palestine.

In many countries, bee-hives were placed in the trees,
and on the western coast of Africa, the natives paid consi-
derable attention to the bees, for the sake of the wax,
hanging hives made of reeds on the boughs of the trees,
which are eagerly appropriated by the bees. The honey-
comb into which Jonathan dipped the end of his rod, was
probably hanging from the bough of a tree.
THE BEE, 289

There are very many allusions to honey being extensively
used as food among the Israelites and other nations of the
period ; for instance, in Tsaiah vii., “ Butter and honey shall
he eat,” and again, ‘ Butter and honey shall every one eat
that is left in the land.” “A land flowing with milk and
honey” was a common saying, expressiye of fertility and
natural wealth. If we reverse the picture, we shall find that
these comparatively harmless little creatures were held in
great dread by the Israelites, and indeed by other nations,
their greater numbers and wild state rendering them more
formidable foes than are, in general, the peaceful and in-
teresting inmates of our cottage gardens. Pliny mentions,
that in some districts of Crete they were so troublesome as
to force the inhabitants to quit the country; and some
places in Scythia were, according to lian, quite uninha-
bitable from the same cause. Many other of the ancient ~
writers speak in a similar strain, and the Bible historians
form no exception. In Deuteronomy i. is the following ex-
pression, “ And the Amorites which dwelt in that mountain
came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and de-
stroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah:” the ancient Syriac
version and some Arabic manuscripts read, “Chased you as
bees that are smoked,” showing how old is the custom of

U
290 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

applying smoke to drive bees from their hives. The royal
Psalmist, speaking of his enemies, compares them to bees,
“they compass me about like bees ;” and Homer makes use
of a similar figure—
“Ae in the hovel, where the peasant milks

His kine in spring-time, when his pails are fill’d,

Thick clouds of humming insects on the wing

Swarm all around him, so the Grecians swarm’d,

An unsumm’d multitude, o’er all the plain,
Bright arm’d, high crested, and athirst for war.”

Modern instances are by no means wanting, to illustrate
the ancient belief in the courage and ferocity of these little
warriors. Mungo Park relates, that some of his party
having gone in search of wild honey, they unfortunately dis-
turbed a swarm of bees near their halting-place: “the bees
came out in immense numbers, and attacked men and beasts
at the same time. Luckily most of the asses were loose
and galloped up the valley; but the horses and people were
much stung, and obliged to scamper in all directions. In
the evening, when the bees became less troublesome, and
we could venture to collect our cattle, we found that many
of them were very much stung, and swelled about the head.
Three asses were missing; one died in the evening, and one
THE BER. 291

the next morning, and we were forced to leave one at Sibi-
killin, in all six, besides which, our guide lost his horse, and
many of our people were much stung about the face and
hands.” This account shows how much these insects are to
be feared, when in large numbers and their anger roused,
or rather their powers of self-defence excited.

Not only are the insects themselves a legitimate cause
of apprehension, in countries where their numbers render
them formidable, but the’ deleterious effects of the honey
(owing to the poisonous nature of the flowers from which
it has been gathered) is frequently alluded to by ancient
writers.. Xenophon has recorded, that a number of Greek
soldiers were violently affected by honey which they had
eaten near Trebizond, during the celebrated Retreat of the
Ten Thousand; and Tournefort says, “There is a kind of
rhododendron about Trebizond, whose flowers the bee feeds
upon, and the honey thence drives people mad ;” the poet
Moore, in his ‘Lalla Rookh,’ refers to this circumstance in
the following lines :—

*Ev’n as those bees of Trebizond,
Which from the sunniest flowers, that glad
With their pure smile the gardens round,
Draw venom forth, that drives men mad.”
292 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

It is probably the Rhododendron ponticum which produces
this poisonous effect on the honey; and the Kadmia angus-
tifolia of America seems to be equally destructive, as was
proved by a party of adventurers, who took some hives
from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, hoping that the savannahs
of that country would be favourable to the increase of the
bees, and the enterprise seemed very hopeful, as the bees
multiplied surprisingly; but unfortunately, the honey proved
to be highly poisonous, producing delirium, with various
other painful symptoms, and in some instances even death
ensued. This noxious honey is of course eaten with perfect
impunity by the little gatherers, so that with regard to them-
selves, though not to their pilferer, man, the following lines
of Pope are strictly correct.

“In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true,
From poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew P”

Onpzr LEPIDOPTERA.
The Moth belongs to the division Nocturna, or night-
fliers, of the Order Lepidoptera, and is principally distin:
guished from the other two, the Diurnal (Butterflies) and the
THE MOTH. 298

Crepuscular (Hawk-moths), by the form of the antenna,
which are setaceous, tapering to the extremity; by the po-
sition of the wings, which are never held vertically when
the insect is at rest, but in angles, varying considerably to
the plane of position.. The caterpillars, or larve, and the
chrysalides, also vary greatly in the three divisions ; but for
these peculiarities, and the many interesting descriptions of
this numerous and beautiful order of insects, the reader is
referred to the various works on entomology, as it would
occupy too much space, and answer no purpose, to enter’
into fall particulars in this little work.

The allusions in the Bible are generally to the destructive
powers of the moth upon woollen fabrics, but these little
creatures are alluded to in other ways, equally expressive of
their habits ; particularly in the following reference to their
dwellings, in Job xxvii., where the house of the wicked is
compared to that of a moth, “ He buildeth his house as a
moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh ;” meaning
probably that the habitation of the wicked man is frail and
perishable as that of an insect. Dr. Good says, “The house
or building referred to, is assuredly that provided by the in-
sect in its larva state, as a temporary residence during its
wonderful change from a chrysalis to a winged and perfect
294 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

insect. The slightness of this habitation is well known to
every one who has attended to the curious operations of the
silkworm, Phalena mori*, or of the tribes indigenous to the
plants of our own country, as Phalena pavonia, the Em-
peror Moth, PA. Caja, the Tiger Moth, PA. Vinula, Poplar
or Willow Moth. Of these, some construct a solitary
dwelling, while others, as Ph. fuscicauda, or the Brown-tail
Moth, are gregarious, vast numbers residing together under
one common web, marshalled with the most exact regula-
rity. The web of the cloth-moths, the principal of which
is Ph. vestianella, is formed of the very substance of the
cloth on which it reposes, devoured for this purpose, and
afterwards worked into a tubular case, with open extremi-
ties, and generally approaching to the colour of the cloth
-by which the moth-worm is nourished.”

In the 51st chapter of Isaiah is a distinct allusion to the
destroying propensities of these little creatures: “For the
moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall
eat: them like wool, but my righteousness shall be for ever,
and my salvation from generation to generation.” “Two
species of Zinea, in their larva or maggot state, appear to be
here mentioned under the names of ask and sas, the one as

* The Bombyx mori of more modern writers.
‘THE MOTH. 295

eating garments, Tinea pellionella, and the other as corrod-
ing wool, Zinea sarcitella ; unless we suppose, that, after
a custom of Hebrew poetry, one and the same are intended
by both words. The ravages which these latent marauders
commit among the most costly stuffs and the choicest furs,
can scarcely be imagined by those who have had no oppor-
tunities of observing the effects. Moths so abound in the
East as to occasion far greater damage than we are accus-
tomed to witness; and as the orientals are in the habit of
forming extensive wardrobes, often containing articles of |
great price and richness, the loss thus produced is the
more sensibly felt, and accounts for the frequent allusions
in Scripture to the devastations of the moth*.”

Though silk is alluded to in Ezekiel xvi., it seems very
uncertain whether this article of luxury were really known
to the Israelites at the time the prophet wrote, or whether
it was only known to himself from his captivity in Babylon;
the latter conjecture is probable, as in the ensuing chapter
he speaks of Babylonia as “a land of traffic,” and Babylon,
“a city of merchants.”

These “merchants” would, in all probability, obtain
silk as an article of luxury from India, the inhabitants of

* Pictorial Bible.
296 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

which were supplied from China, the original country of
the silkworm moth: for it is a well-known fact, that “ As.
syria, understood of Babylonia in the large sense, was the
source from which the Romans continued to derive their
silk even in the time of Pliny; and this is always men-
tioned previously, as the country from which silk was
brought, although the nations of Eastern Europe were
not ultimately unaware that it came from a remote country
which they called Serica, by which China appears to have
been vaguely understood. From this it will appear, that
the question as to the existence of silk in Babylon is merely
one of date, and although it may not be possible to find
any positive statement to indicate its presence there at the
time when Ezekiel wrote, there is every probability in favour
of this conclusion, as, when we first find it in these interme-
diate countries, there is not the least intimation that it had
there only newly become known; and we can come neat
enough to show, that if it had not been newly introduced,
it must have been known there in the time of Ezekiel. It
is a remarkable fact, that the first persons who brought
wrought silk into Europe were the Greeks of Alexander's
army, which conquered the Persian empire, in which Baby-
lon was then included. In other words, about two hundred
THE MOTH. 297

and fifty years after Ezekiel, silk is known to have been used
in the dress of the Persians. As the Medes and the Baby-
lonians (or at least the latter) were luxurious and wealthy,
and fond of rich dresses, it may well be supposed that they
absorbed all the limited supply which reached them; and
as the nations more west were less rich and of plainer
manners, the merchants had no motive to carry the com-
modity to a more western market. This will show that
silk may long have been in use in Babylonia before it was
known in Europe and on the western shores of Asia*.”

As the dress described in the foregoing chapter con-
sisted of the richest and most beautiful materials, of “ fine
linen,” “silk,” bracelets, chains, jewels, ear-rings, and a
“beautiful crown,” it is very natural that the prophet
should mention silk, which he had probably seen in Babylon
as an article of great costliness and luxury; and as the de-
scription of this costume is entirely figurative, by which
Ezekiel describes the precious things with which God had
invested the people of Israel, it is not at all necessary to sup-
pose that silk was at that time known to the Israelites in
general; and the probabilities are against this supposition,
for even some centuries later, in the time of the Roman

* Pictorial Bible.
298 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Emperors, it was so expensive, that under Tiberias it was
forbidden to be used by men: one of the most extravagant
charges brought against Heliogabalus is, that he was the
first man who wore a robe made entirely of silk; and the
Emperor Aurelian refused a silk dress to his consort on
account of the extravagant price.

Of course the moth Bombyx mori, and its larva, from
which all our silk is derived, was entirely unknown to the
Israelites. It is a whitish moth, with a broad pale brown
band across the upper wings. The larva is of a yellowish-
grey colour, and when full-grown about three inches long.
It feeds principally on the mulberry.

Orprk DIPTERA.

Cou1rex.—The Gnat.

The family Cudicida, to which this insect belongs, is dis-
tinguished by the length of the proboscis and by the beauti-
fully tufted antenne ; the larvee are inhabitants of the water,
in which element they move with great rapidity, coming to
the surface in order to breathe, which they do with the.
head downwards, as the respiratory apparatus is situated at
THE GNAT. 299

the end of the body; when transformed into pupe, they
exhibit the rudiments of legs and wings; the external
organs for breathing consist of two spiral horns, and they
still swim with great agility by means of two swimmerets,
or little oars. The perfect insects abound in damp situa-
tions; their fight is accompanied by a humming noise,
caused by the vibration of the wings.

The well-known English species is called Culex piptena,
but though we suffer from its attacks, it is, from the com-
paratively small numbers, a far less formidable enemy than
‘the corresponding species in many other countries ; for in-
stance, the C. musguito of hot climates, and the Lapland
species, which fills the air during the short summer of that
latitude with its myriad tormentors, so that the natives
scarcely venture out of their cabins, without first smearing
their faces with a mixture of tar and cream.

The tormenting powers of the mosquito or gnat are
mentioned even in very ancient records; and it is said that
a king of Persia was obliged to raise the siege of Nisibus
in consequence of a swarm of gnats, which attacked the
elephants and horses with so much fury as to cause the
rout of his army. By some writers it has been conjectured
that the Egyptian plague of “flies” in reality consisted of
300 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

mosquitos; and the arguments in favour of this opinion
_are very plausible. The swelling and subsiding of the river
Nile would probably cause a vast increase of these insects,
as the damp would be particularly favourable to them; and
the words “swarms” is also very applicable, as any one
will agree who has seen a “swarm of gnats at eventide ;”
but the opinion of Mr. Kirby and other eminent writers is
in favour of the Blatta Aigyptiaca, or Egyptian cockroach.
The reader will find the arguments in favour of this idea
under the article Breruz.

In Matthew xxiii. the gnat is spoken of in the following
manner, when Jesus is admonishing the people not to follow
the evil example of the Scribes and Pharisees :—‘ Woe
unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay
tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the
weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith :
these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others
undone; ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swal-
low a camel.” At first this expression may seem only to
imply difference and contrast in size, in order to show, in
the figurative lariguage of the East, that the false teachers
whom our Saviour had denounced, would not hesitate to
commit great sins (typified by swallowing a camel), though
THE GNAT. 801

they were very punctilious with regard to small deviations from
the traditions which had been engrafted on the laws of Moses,
and which were in reality as innocuous to their souls, as the
swallowing of a gnat would have proved to their bodies.
But there is more in this expression than at first sight
would appear ; and it will be rendered more clear, by adopt-
ing the translation in Archbishop Parker's Bible, “Strain
out a gnat and swallow a camel.” “In the Hast, where
insects of all kinds and sizes abound, it is difficult to keep
clear of insects, liquors which are left for the least time
uncovered; for which reason, as well as because there are
some kinds which breed in wine, it was and is usual to
strain the wine before drinking, to prevent insects from
passing into the drinking-vessel. Besides the common
motive of cleanliness for this practice, the Jews considered
that they had another and more imperative one—that of
religious purity. For, as the law forbade them to eat
“flying creeping things,” they thought themselves bound
to be particularly careful in this matter. On this subject,
as usual, they refined very much; and the Talmud con-
tains many curious explanations and directions concerning
it: thus,—‘One that eats a flea or a gnat is an apostate,
and is no more to be counted one of the congregation.” It
302 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

seems, however, that a person doing this might, under
certain circumstances, escape further consequences by sub-
mitting to be scourged : “ Whosoever eateth a whole fly or
a whole gnat, whether alive or dead, is to be beaten on
account of the flying creeping thing.”

The great solicitude which was hence exhibited to exclude
the smallest insects from drinks, gave occasion to the pre-
sent proverb, applied to much care about small matters and
none about greater. The camel need occasion no more
difficulty in this proverb than in that which refers to a
camel’s passage through the eye of a needle; for the camel,
being about the largest animal commonly known to the
Hebrews, was naturally selected to give the hyperbolical
point, usual with the orientals, to their contrast of the great
with the little. Hence, the elephant is also mentioned in
the same manner and for the same reason as the camel, in
many proverbs of the East; as in that analogous Arabian
one, cited by Pococke, “He swallows an elephant, and is
strangled by a flea*.”

The word rendered “lice” in Exodus viii. is translated
in-the Septuagint by dinnim, which means the mosquito,
and, as the translators lived in Egypt, their opinion is en-

* Pictorial Bible.
THE MOSQUITO. 308

titled to great respect. Origen and Jerome also concur in
this view, which has been adopted by many modern writers,
as Gesenius and Boothroyd. Scarcely any insect could be
found which would so truly come under the denomination
of a “plague,” or form so great a scourge, as these little
creatures, whose insatiable thirst for blood, and the painful
nature of their attacks, rendering sleep quite impossible,
are only fully known in hotter climates than ours. The
only method of procuring rest is by using mosquito-cur-
tains; and it is well known that the ancient Egyptians
adopted this plan. Herodotus mentions that the inhabi-
tants of Lower Egypt used their fishing-nets for this pur-
pose, as gnats and flies will not pass through even coarse
netting. Travellers concur in declaring, that there is no
country where the mosquito is so numerous, or their bite so
painful, as in Egypt; and their god, Baalzebub, the “ god
of flies,” was doubtless the deity propitiated when they were
suffering under this infliction. The Egyptian mosquito is
small, ash-coloured, with white spots on the legs.

Many commentators, however, prefer our authorized
translation, ‘Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod,
and smote the dust of the earth, and it became dice in
man and in beast.” These disgusting creatures certainly
804 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

abound in Egypt in an equal degree with mosquitos, so
that is almost impossible to be wholly free from them.
They belong to that division of the insect world, the mem-
bers of which undergo no transformation from larva to pupa
and thence to the perfect insect. There are two families,
Pediculida, living on man and quadrupeds, and Nirmida,
living on birds: the species vary according to the animal
on which they live.

Tur Horner.—There are several notices of the hornet
in the Scriptures, according to our translation, In Exodus
xxiii. is the following: “I will send hornets before thee,
which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the
Hittite from before thee.” And again, in Deuteronomy vii.,
“Moreover the Lord thy God will send the Aornet among
them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from
thee, be destroyed ;” and in Joshua xxiv. is recorded the
fulfilment of these promises—“I sent the hornet before
you, which drove them out before you, even the two kings
of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy
bow.” Many interpreters consider these texts in a figurative
sense, the hornet denoting either fear, which caused the
Canaanites to flee before Israel, or plagues and diseases,
causing the same result; and the Scripture language, as
THE HORNET. 805

that of the East continues to this day, is so highly meta-
phorical, that there is no improbability in the suggestion.
If, however, the more literal reading be preferred, there
is still a question as to the insect intended. The original
word is ¢zirah, expressive, probably, of a loud buzzing noise :
this may refer to the hornet, but the zimd, or dog-fly of
Abyssinis, offers so many analogies to the terrible insect
which is mentioned in Scripture under the particular name
of ézirak, and the general one of zebud, that, although we
may not be able to say positively that they are the same, the
statement concerning the zim). may at least be taken to
furnish the best analogous illustration which it is now pos-
sible to obtain. One fact, which gives the greater weight
and probability to the identification, is the certainty that the
zimb was known to the Israelites, for it is difficult to sup-
pose that Isaiah (ch. vii.) could have had any other insect in
view, when he says, “The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is
in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt.” Bruce does
not fail to cite this passage. The original word, there ren-
dered “fly,” is zebub, and, as he observes, “the Chaldee
version is content with calling this animal simply zebud,
which signifies the fly in general, as we express it in English.
The Arabs call it zimd in their translation, which has the
x
808 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

same general signification. The Ethiopic translation calls
it ¢salésalya, which is the true name of this particular fly in
Geez, and was the same in Hebrew.”

“Bruce thus describes this formidable insect. It is in
size very little larger than a bee, of a thicker proportion,
and has wings which are broader than those of a bee, placed
separate like those of a fly; they are of pure gauze, without
colour or spot upon them. The head is large; the upper
jaw or lip is sharp, and has at the end of it a strong pointed
hair, of about a quarter of an inch long, the lower jaw has
two of these pointed hairs; and this pencil of hairs, when
joined together, makes a resistance to the finger nearly
equal to that of a hog’s bristle. Its legs are serrated
in the inside, and the whole covered with brown hair or
down. It has no sting.” “As soon as this plague appears
and their buzzing is heard, all the cattle forsake their food,
and run wildly about the plain till they die, worn out with
fatigue, fright, and hunger. No remedy remains but to
leave the black earth (where they breed) and hasten down
to the sands of Atbara, and there they remain while the rains
last, this cruel enemy never daring to pursue them further.”
Without these precautions the whole stock of cattle would
be lost. The camel is equally liable to the attacks of this
THE HORNET. 307

pest; amongst wild animals even the thick hide of the
elephant and rhinoceros is no protection against their viru-
lence, and as these cannot remove to the sandy regions,
owing to the nature of their food, they are obliged to roll
themselves in mud, which, when dry, forms a kind of armour
against their winged adversaries. “If we compare this
account with the passage in Isaiah above referred to, in
which the Lord threatens to call for ‘the fly of Ethopia’
as an agent for the punishment of iniquity, and if this be
really the insect to which the text refers, the probability
seems to be that the zimd was not then, any more than now,
a native of Palestine; but that swarms of them were drawn
from Ethiopia to execute the divine will. The Canaanites
would be the more terrified by the calamity, from being un-
acquainted with its nature; they could not, therefore, regu-
late their flight by that knowledge of the insect’s habits
which the Abyssinians possess*.”

Virgil thus truly describes this insect under the name
Asilus, ptobably only a different pronunciation of Aa-tzirah,
by which it is called in the writings of Moses and Joshua.

' Of winged insects mighty swarms are seen ;
This flying plague (to mark its quality)
* Pictorial Bible.
808 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Castros the Greciaus call—Asilus we :
A fierce, loud buzzing breeze. Their stings draw blood,
And drive the cattle gadding through the wood.””

Though these insects have no sting, they cause great
suffering, by piercing the skin with their pointed proboscis,
and depositing their eggs in the punctures, in the same
manner as the (Gstrus.

Crass ARACHNIDA.

The Spider is too remarkable a creature in its structure
and habits, to be passed over by the sacred writers; accord.
ingly we find it frequently alluded to; but before referring
to these passages, we will gather from other sources a short sc-
count of these well-known, but too often despised creatures.

Linneus ranked spiders with insects; but though similar
in many respects, they are distinguished from them by the
number of their limbs, their internal structure, and their
habits. Spiders are destitute of antenns, but are provided
with a pair of pincers terminating in sharp points, perforated
by small holes, through which a poison is emitted, fatal to
mostof the smaller insects. The eyes are unlike those of it-
THE SPIDER. ; 809

sects, being simple, though six or eight in number; spiders
have algo eight legs, two more than in the class Insecta.
The most remarkable feature in the structure of the spider,
is the power of producing slender, silk-like threads, called
gossamer; the gummy matter of which these are formed is
secreted in little bags, connected with a circular orifice near
the end of the body; within this orifice are five spinnerete,
through which the silken thread is drawn; these spinnerets
are pierced with thousands of tubes, too minute for the
naked eye to discern, and each emitting a thread of wonder-
ful fineness, which uniting, like the strands of a rope, form
the thread by which the little creature suspends itself, and
also forms its web. “Thus the spinning apparatus of the
disdained spider, when viewed by the eye of science, be-
comes one of the most wonderful pieces of animated mecha-
nism, and is of itself sufficient to establish, that nothing
short of Divinity could have framed it*.”

The female spider lays a number of round, whitish eggs,
which are sometimes merely placed in a crevice, without
any protection; others are enclosed in a cover of gos-
samer; and a third kind in a soft envelope. “The at-
tention which spiders pay to these cocoons almost equals

* Constable’s Miscellany.
310 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

that of the ant for its larvee. We once deprived a garden
spider of its eggs, and covered them slightly with earth ;
the animal scampered away for a few feet, and then gathered
up its legs, and lay down as if dead. In a short time,
when all was quiet, it returned to the spot, and searched
round every clod and pellet, till it ultimately discovered the
object of its search, which it gently uncovered, cleaned, en-
veloped with a few rounds of fresh gossamer, and then bore
rapidly away to a secret crevice. The young of some species
are fed for a short while by the parent; but the majority,
we believe, shift for themselves on leaving the envelope, as
they soon arrive at maturity*.” Spiders are strictly carni-
vorous in their habits.

‘We will now visit some of the habitations formed by these
industrious and unique artificers; and first observe the
Garden Spider (Zpeira diadema), one of the most interesting
of the family, both from its own beauty and that of its web.
“Tt is the circular net of this species which we so often see
glittering among the branches of shrubs and trees, formed
with as much art and regularity as the figures adorning
the finest lace-work. The manner in which this net is sus-
pended and stayed on every side, displays even greater in-

* Constable's Miscellany.
THE SPIDER. $11

genuity than is to be found in the web of the house spider.
When desirous of forming a net, the Zpeira fixes one end
of her thread to the place where she is seated, and then
elevating her spinnerets, throws from them a continued jet
of thread, which floats onward until it reaches some adjoin-
ing branch, to which, by its glutinous nature, it adheres.
By occasionally feeling the tightness of the thread, the spider
knows when it has fastened, and she walks backwards and
forwards over it, each time strengthening it by an additional
strand. In this way she lays several suspension chains,
each properly stayed and tightened, and then proceeds to
weave the net-work*;” forming those circular threads
which give to the net so geometrical an appearance.

The net of the Labyrinthic Spider (Angela labyrinthica)
is also very worthy of examination ; it is the largest con-
struction of any European species, and may be seen in pro-
fusion towards autumn, forming a broad sheet, spread on
hedges and furze. Mr. Rennie says that “the middle of
this sheet, which is of a close texture, is swung, like a
sailor’s hammock, by silken ropes extended all round to the
higher branches, but the whole curves upwards and back-
wards, sloping down to a long funnel-shaped gallery, which

* Consteble’s Miscellany.
$12 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

is nearly horizontal at the entrance, but soon winds obliquely,
till it becomes quite perpendicular. This curved gallery is
about a quarter of an inch in diameter, is much more closely
woven than the sheet of the web, and sometimes descends
into a hole in the ground, though oftener into a group of
crowded twigs, or a tuft of grass. Here the spider dwells
secure, frequently resting with her legs extended from the
entrance of the gallery, ready to spring out upon whatever
insect may fall into her sheet net.”

The Gossamer Spiders (4ranea obtectriz) have the power
of shooting out lines of gossamer, so as to render themselves
quite buoyant, and thus they float about, as though they
had wings. These abound both in Europe and America.

The Water Spider (Argyroneta aquatica) makes its habi-
tation in the water, by spinning loose threads to the leaves
of water-plants, over which it spreads a transparent varnish,
like liquid glass, and quite elastic ; within this globe a bub-
ble of air is drawn by degrees, the little creature coming to
the surface several times, and carrying with it, in descend-
ing, a small portion of air, which looks like shining quick-
silver ; when sufficiently inflated, the ingenious builder is
possessed of a perfectly dry habitation in the midst of water.
These, and many other examples, evince the marvellous
TRE SPIDER. 318

instinct with which these apparently insignificant creatures
are endowed, amply justifying the notice of the sacred
writers.

In the book of Job an allusion is made to the fragility of
the spider’s dwelling: ‘‘So are the paths of all that forget
God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: whose hope
shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s wed.
He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he
shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.” The literal
translation of the word rendered wed is house, and this
would give much greater force to the expression, “ He shall
lean upon his Zouse, but it shall not stand.” The fragile
nature of the spider’s web is too well known to require any
illustration beyond those which have already been given,
and the simile shows that the nature of these wonderful
constructions had not escaped the observation of the sacred
historians, nor, indeed, the general habits of the little archi-
tect, for in Proverbs xxx. it is ranked as one of the “four
things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceed-
ing wise.”

“The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’
palaces.” There is here an allusion to two of the character-
istics of the spider, the use of its “hands” in forming and
314 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

clinging to its web, and the construction of that web in the
habitations of man. Solomon, of course, referred to the
house spider, though the species, in all probability, differed
from the too-familiar denizen of our dwellings. The claws
on the foot of the spider are of great use in her delicate
work, being in many cases furnished with comb-like teeth,
which enable her to keep the threads separate when neces-
sary. The foot has also a third claw, on which the spider
winds up the superfluous silk. The under surface of the
foot is in general furnished with a thick kind of brush,
formed of slender bristles, fringed with delicate hairs. This
is an exceedingly beautiful and interesting subject for mi-
croscopical investigation.

Hitherto the spider’s web has been used as a type of
fragility; in Isaiah lix. it is spoken of as a snare, and m
the highly metaphorical language of the East the wicked
are said to “weave the spider’s web ;” and the prophet
continues, “ Their webs shall not become garments, neither.
shall they cover themselves with their works; their works
are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their
hands.” Whoever has watched a spider lying concealed in
her cell, and darting out the moment an unwary insect is
entangled in the meshes of her net, grappling it in her
THE SCORPION. 815

claws, and sending her poisoned fangs into its body, will
see the force and truth of the prophet’s simile, and will be
interested in noticing the same facts in nature which were
presented to the eye of the wise men of old, who did not
disdain to mark and record the habits even of the poor
spider, and still more diminutive ant.

The more formidable Scorpion is of the same class as the
spider, but of the order Pedipalpa of Latreille, and family
Scorpionide. The body is terminated by an elongated tail,
armed with an acute and curved sting, capable of inflicting
most painful, and often deadly, wounds. The legs and eyes
are eight in number, as are the breathing pores, four on
each side; the palpi are greatly developed, forming instru-
ments of prehension, and terminated by a large claw; the
body is furnished with comb-like appendages on the under
side, the use of which has not been ascertained. The young
scorpions are born alive, and vary in a brood from twenty
to double that number; the mother carries them about on
her back for several days, seldom quitting her retreat; in
the course of a month they are able to take care of them-
selves. They shed their skins annually.

The scorpion is chiefly an inhabitant of tropical countries,
living in sandy districts, and concealing itself under stones,
316 POPULAR SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

etc. is food consists of ground-beetles, cockroaches, and
other insects of that nature, which are first wounded by the
sting, and then conveyed to the mouth; the eggs of spiders
are also a favourite food. Scorpions run very quickly,
using their long tail both as an offensive and defensive
weapon. The general size of the European species is not
more than two or three inches, and the sting scarcely more
severe than that of the hornet, being only fatal where the
body is predisposed to disease; but in tropical climates,
where these creatures are found twelve inches long (as those
in Batavia), or, according to Bosman, as large as a lobster,
on the Gold Coast, they are most formidable enemies, and
their sting invariably fatal.

The dread with which the scorpion is still regarded in
the East is a sufficient commentary on the well-known pas-
sage in the 2nd book of Chronicles, ch. x., where Rehoboam,
the son of Solomon, made the imprudent and cruel answer
to his people, which caused the revolt of Israel from the
house of David; and though of course used in a figurative
sense, the scorpion (probably the Scorpio afen) must have
been well known and much dreaded, for the threat to have
been made in this form by the king: “My father made
your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto; my father chastised
THE SCORPION. 317

you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
And again, in Revelation ix.: “And they had tails like
unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and
their power was to hurt men five months.”

That these creatures were familiar to the ancients, we have
proofs from profane as well as sacred writers. The zodiacal
constellation of the Scorpion was so named, it is said, from
the sting being inflicted by that animal as it retreats ; this
bearing a fancied resemblance to autumn, which was sup-
posed to leave a train of diseases as it disappeared. In the
Egyptian mythology the scorpion is the symbol of evil.
318

Crass ANNELIDA.

—>—

Ornvrr SUCTORIA.

Hievpo.—The Leech.

The creatures forming this genus are mostly aquatic,
some being inhabitants of fresh water, others of the sea, and
a small number preferring moist situations near stagnant
water. Their eggs are enveloped in a kind of cocoon, of a
texture much resembling sponge. The H. medicinahe is
the most familiar example, and needs no lengthened de-
scription, though the mouth may claim a short notice, as
being remarkably adapted to the food on which it subsists,
the fluids of frogs, fish, etc. It is placed in the centre of
the cavity formed by the anterior sucker, and is composed
of three little cartilaginous bodies, or jaws, so disposed that
the three edges form three radii of a circle: each of these is
furnished with two rows of minute teeth, so as to resemble
THE LEECH. 319

a saw, and these, by the action of a muscle, cut into the
skin. The leech has eight or ten simple eyes, which may
be seen with a magnifying-glass, looking like a semicir-
cular row of black points above the mouth. There are two
species used in the medical art, which are chiefly brought
from France, Spain, Sweden, and Hungary.

The Horse Leech (Hirudo sanguisuga) is of a more de-
pressed form than the common species; the head and tail
are slender; the body thick, of a dusky colour above, and
yellowish-green beneath. It lives in pools and stagnant
water. This is supposed to be the species referred to in
Job xxx., in that singular expression, “The horse-leech
hath two daughters, crying, Give, give ;” probably intending
to describe its insatiable thirst for blood, which would excite
no feeling but disgust and aversion in the East, as the use
to which we apply the leech being unknown, the natives
are only acquainted with it as a destroyer of their valuable
horses and other animals, by fastening under their tongues
when they drink. Some writers have endeavoured to ex-
plain this text allegorically, and it is not improbable that
the original meaning is somewhat different from our ver-
sion, though, as a type of rapacity, the horse-leech would
not be at all unlikely to occur to the mind of an oriental.
820

Cuass MOLLUSCA.

—p——

Orpen GASTEROPODA.

Heurx.—The Snail.

Helie is the general name of a most extensively diffused
class of mollusks: “it is equally adapted to the hottest
and the coldest climates, the most cultivated or the most
barren situations. The common garden snail of this coun-
try, and the edible snail of France and Italy, are well-known
examples of this family; but in tropical climates, more
striking ones are to be found.” Those who despise and see
no beauty in the snails of this country, should examine the
collection in the British Museum, or the perfect and beau-
tifal specimens brought from the Philippine Islands by
Mr. Cuming, which look like jewels of all hues, so varied
and brilliant are they in colour.

Snails lay eggs, which they carefully bury in the ground ;
THE SNAIL. $21

they are round, semitransparent, and covered with small
shells, which increase in size according to the growth of
the animal: the addition is always at the mouth, the snail
sending forth from the mantle (or outer covering of the
body) a liquid, which, on exposure to the air, becomes
hardened into shell. The food of the snail consists of the
leaves of plants and trees; it is very voracious, though ex-
tremely particular in its choice. In winter it buries itself
in the ground or retires to a hole, where, in a state of tor-
pidity, it braves the utmost severity of the season.

The common Garden Snail (Helia aspersa) is found in
all quarters of the globe; in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in
Guiana and Brazil, and in the desert of Zahara. The
edible snail (Helix pomatia) is a native of many European
countries, and on the shores of the Mediterranean is re-
garded as a valuable article of food.

As there are a variety of species in every country, it is
of course impossible to fix upon any one in particular, as
the snail mentioned in the Psalms; and indeed this is not
at all necessary, as the allusion is made to a peculiarity
which is common to the whole family. The original word
in Psalm lviii. is ehadbelud, which is derived from a word
signifying a trail, or path, and is, therefore, remarkably

¥
822 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

descriptive of the snail, whose glutinous secretion so clearly
marks the line of its progress. The expression used is “ As
a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away.”
“We should be disposed to render the first part of this verse
by ‘ Like the snail which wasteth away as it goes*.’ ”

It has been already stated that the word translated snail
in Leviticus xi. was probably the Lacerta stellio, a kind of
lizard, the original, chomet, signifying to bow down; and
this Lacerta is noted for bowing its head continually, so
that the Mahommedans destroy it, saying that it mimics
their attitude of prayer.

Orpen LAMELLIBRANCHIATA.

Avicuta (Meleagrina) MmaRcaRitivena—The Pear
Oyster.

The valuable and beautiful substance called mother-of-
pearl, and pearls themselves, are generally found in the
above-named shell, though there are many others which
produce them in considerable numbers; such as the com-
mon oyster (Ostrea edulis), the mussel (Mytilus edit), the

* Pictorial Bible.
THE PEARL OYSTER. 823

swan mussel (Anadonta cygnea), the pearl mussel (Alasmo-
don margaritiferus), and the Pinna of the Mediterranean
and Red Seas, whose pearls are of a fine pink colour, and
are supposed by Bruce to be the rubies of the Bible.
When Solomon,” he says, “terms them the most pre-
cious of all productions, he must be understood to mean
chiefly this species of pearl, as having been the most valued
in the land of Judea.” The shell, however, which produces
the greatest proportion of pearls is the Avicula or Melea-
grina margaritifera, which is a native of many parts of
the world, more particularly the west coast of Ceylon, the
Coromandel coast, the Bahrein Islands in the ‘Gulf of
Persia, and the West Indies.

In Reeve’s ‘Conchologia Systematica,’ pearls are thus
scientifically described :—‘ Pearls are small, nacreous balls,
that become formed and hardened within the body of the
animal; they are found deposited in the most fleshy parts,
and are said to be occasioned by the overcharge of those
glands whose function it is to secrete the nacreous fluid
destined for the internal lining of the shell. When the
animal is thus diseased, this beautiful iridescent fluid is very
irregularly discharged, being also deposited upon the inner
surface of the shell in little excrescences; these are often
324 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

detached, and form articles of commerce, as pearls of in-
ferior value; the former being considered more precious,
both on account of their rotundity of form, and the clear-
ness and beauty of their complexion.”

Very amusing notions were held by the ancients on the
origin of these beautiful productions. Pliny tells us that
the oyster which produces pearls, does so from feeding upon
heavenly dew: our own early writers have recorded the
same opinions. In the East, it is commonly believed that
these gems are

“Rain from the sky,
Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea ;””
or, as it is still more poetically expressed by the natives of
India, they are congealed dew-drops, which Buddha, in cer-
tain months, showers upon the earth, and which are caught
by the oysters whilst floating on the waters to breathe.

Pearls were held in great esteem in ancient Rome. The
Roman ladies used them in all parts of their dress, and
frequently wore several in each ear: the moralist Seneca
reproved some one by saying that “his wife carried all the
wealth of his house in her ears.” Julius Cesar presented
one to Servilia, the mother of Brutus, valued at £48,417
of our money; and the celebrated pearl which Cleopatra is
THE PEARL OYSTER. 825

said to have dissolved and drank, was worth more than
£80,000. In Persia, pearls were formerly valued at their
weight in gold, and even lately immense sums have been
given for those of a large size.

“There is no spectacle the island affords,” says Mr.
Perceval, in his account of Ceylon, “ more striking to a
European than the Bay of Condatchy during the season of
the pearl-fishery. This desert and barren spot is, at that
time, converted into a scene which exceeds in novelty almost
anything I ever witnessed ; several thousands of people, of
different colours, countries, castes, and occupations, con-
tinually passing and repassing, in a busy crowd: the vast
numbers of small tents and huts, erected on the shore, with
the bazaar or market-place before each; the multitude of
boats returning in the afternoon from the pearl-banks, some
of them laden with riches; the anxious, expecting coun-
tenances of the boat-owners while the boats are approach-
ing the shore, and the eagerness and avidity with which
they run to them when arrived, in hopes of a rich cargo;
the vast number of jewellers, brokers, merchants of all
colours and all descriptions, both natives and foreigners,
who are occupied in some way or other with the pearls,
some separating and assorting them, others weighing and
826 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

ascertaining their number and value; while others are
hawking them about, or drilling and boring them for future
use: all these circumstances tend to impress the mind with
the value and importance of that object which can of itself
create this scene.”

The principal oyster-bank at Ceylon is about twenty
miles from the shore, and during the season (February and
March) the boats, each containing ten divers and as many
rowers, sail and return together. The divers go down five
at a time alternately, facilitating their descent by means of
a large stone, fastened to a rope, which is held by the toes
of the right foot; those of the left holding a bag made of
network ; the hands are also employed—the right, in grasp-
ing another rope, the left, in holding the nostrils, to pre-
vent the ingress of water. When the ground is well clothed
with oysters, a diver will sometimes bring up one hundred
and fifty at once; and when he has collected as many as he
can, whilst able to remain, he gives the signal by pulling
the rope, as his comrades soon draw him up with his
cargo. The exertions made by these poor men are very
severe; as they frequently make forty or fifty plunges
during the day, remaining each time from one minute to
two, or even more in some instances. They seldom live to
THE PEARL OYSTER. 827

a great age, and often undergo intense suffering, besides
the dread of the ground shark, which proves a constant
source of apprehension, as many divers are killed, or at least
lose their limbs, by this terrible enemy almost every season.
It is not uncommon for these men to die from apoplexy ; it
is said that one expired immediately on reaching land,
having brought with him one shell containing a pearl of
great size and exquisite lustre. The following beautifal
lines form part of a poem written on this incident, and ¢ en-
titled ‘The Pearl-wearer :’"—

“ Within the midnight of her hair,
Half-hidden in its deepest deeps,
A single, peerless, priceleas pearl,
All filmy-eyed for ever sleeps.
Without the diamond’s sparkling eyes,
The ruby’s blashes—there it lies,
Modest as the tender dawn,
When her purple veil ’s withdrawn.—
The flower of gems, a lily cold and pale!
Yet what doth all avail ?—
All its beauty, all its grace,
All the honours of its place ?
He who pluck’d it from its bed,
In the far blue Indian ocean,
Lieth without life or motion,
In his earthly dwelling—dead |
828 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

And his children one by one,
When they look upon the sun,
Curse the toil by which he drew
The treasure from its bed of blue.”

A double-pointed stick is sometimes carried by the divers,
to thrust into the mouth of the shark in such a position,
that in attempting to seize their victim, the jaws close on
the two points. This and other precautions are, however,
often unavailing, and the poor diver loses his life, or is
maimed in a terrible manner.

The pearl is not mentioned very early in the Sacred Nar-
rative, at least in our version; but in Genesis ii. occurs the
word “bdellium,” which is a gum, once famous for its
medicinal properties; but the word translated dde//ium
is in the Arabic version rendered pear, and there seems
much probability that this was really intended ; it is men-
tioned with gold and gems, and if, as is supposed, the land
of Havilah lay near the Persian Gulf, it would be natural to
mention this, one of its most valuable productions. Job
names the pearl, in enumerating the riches of the world, all _
of which could not be put in competition with the treasures |
of wisdom : “ It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver
be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with
PEARLS. 829

the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
The gold and the crystal cannot equal it, and the exchange
of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall
be made of coral or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is
above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,
neither shall it be valued with pure gold.”

The reader will remember several well-known allusions to
_ pearls in the New Testament, all evincing a knowledge of
their value and beauty : “Give not that which is holy unto
the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine” (Matthew
viii.) ; and again, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchant man, seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had
found one pear? of great price, went and sold all that he
had, and bought it” (Matthew xiii.).

There are some things mentioned in Scripture, which,
though not in themselves animals, are either portions of, or
produced by, animals: of these are ivory, coral, and a few
of the dyes used by the ancients, such as purple and scarlet,
880 POPULAR SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the former produced from certain shell-fish, the latter from
the Hermes, or cochineal insects ; also skins and parchment.

Ivory, or as the marginal reading renders it, “ elephants’
teeth,” is enumerated in the list of articles of luxury
brought by Solomon’s navy. “For the king had at sea a
navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three
years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold and silver,
ivory and apes and peacocks.” A similar account is given
in 2 Chronicles ix. 21.

The question of the locality whence these riches were
brought, has been already discussed in speaking of the Ape,
and therefore need not be renewed. That the ivory was
brought in considerable quantities, is apparent, from the
uses to which it was applied ; in the last-named chapter is a
description of an ivory throne erected by Solomon: “ More-
over the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid
it with pure gold. And there were six steps to the throne,
with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne,
and stays on each side of the sitting place, and two lions
standing by the stays; and twelve lions stood there on the
one side and on the other, upon the six steps. There was
not the like made in any kingdom.” In Psalm xlv. ivory
palaces are mentioned: “ All thy garments smell of myrrh,
IVORY. 331

aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they
have made me glad.” Of course the latter expression can
only be intended to show that ivory was abundantly used
in the interior decoration of the palaces alluded to, the
practice of inlaying being in very extensive use among the
ancients, both classical and oriental. Lucan alludes to
this art, when describing the banqueting hall of Cleopatra.

“Rich as some fane by lavish zealots rear’d,
For the proud banquet stood the hall prepared ;
Thick golden plates the latent beams infold,
And the high roof was fretted o’er with gold ;
Of solid marble all the walls were made,

And onyx ev’n the meaner floors inlaid,
While porphyry and agate, round the court,
In masay columns rose, a proud support.
Of solid ebony each post was wrought,
From swarthy Meroé profasely brought ;

- With ivory was the entrance crusted o’er,
And polish’d tortoise hid each shining door ;
While on the cloudy spots enchased was seen,
The lively emerald’s never-fading green.”

And Virgil says,

“The surrounding ebon’s darker hue,
Improves the polish’d ivory to the view.”

In Layard’s ‘Nineveh’ are the following notices of
332 POPULAR SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

ivory :—* In the rubbish near the bottom of the chamber,
I found several objects in ivory, upon which were traces of
gilding ; amongst them were the figures of a king, carrying
in one hand the Egyptian crus ansata, or emblem of life,
part of a crouching sphinx, and an elegant ornamental
border of flowers.” And again: “In another chamber (of
the north-western palace at Nimroud) were discovered the
beautiful ivory ornaments now in the British Museum.
The most interesting of these ivories are two small tablets,
one nearly entire, the other much injured, on which are
carved two sitting figures, holding in one hand the Egyp-
tian sceptre, or symbol of power.”

Inlaying is still much used by the orientals in ornament-
ing their splendid apartments, though different kinds of
wood are generally employed for this purpose.

Ivory made into tablets was formerly much used for
writing upon; a paint-like ink was used, which might easily
be effaced. The prophet Amos mentions the use of ivory
in ornamenting the beds, or rather couches, on which the
Hebrews, like other eastern nations, reclined when taking
their meals; he is speaking of the luxurious inhabitants of
Zion, denouncing “them that are at ease,” and continues,
“Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of
IVORY. — 33838

violence to come near; that lie on beds of ivory, and stretch
themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of
the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to them-
selves instruments of music like David; that drink wine in
bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments.”
The pictures of luxury here given, the ornamented couch,
the choice food, the wine, the rich oils for anointing, the
music and the song, may be all met with at the present day
in western Asia, with one exception, that of wine, in countries
professing the faith of Mahommed.

The tusk of the elephant, which is the ivory of commerce,
is nearly straight, or curved upwards; the largest are from five
to eight feet long, and weigh from twenty to eighty pounds
each ; in the female they are very much smaller: the first
tusks of the young elephant drop off when the animal is about
fourteen months old, and soon after, the permanent tusks
appear; they continue growing by a fresh, layer of ivory on
the inner surface, like the horn of an ox, until they have
attained their full size. The tusks of the African elephant
are both larger and of firmer texture than those of the Asiatic
species, so that African ivory is of greater value, as being
capable of a higher polish, and is more abundant in quantity.
3384 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

The beautiful and well-known substance called Coral,
mentioned only in Job xxviii., “ No mention shall be made
of coral or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above
rubies,” is of a very singular and interesting nature. “The
animals of the genus Coraliina are arborescent or tree-like in
form; the stem fixed, with calcareous, subdivided branches,
mostly jointed. Neither pores nor polypes are distinguish-
able on the surface of these beings, and they were formerly
supposed to be vegetable; but they give the most evident
tokens of large portions of ammonia, the common test of
animal substance, and have been often traced to have spon-
taneous motion. Every tube, vesicle, or articulation is pro-
bably the enclosure of a distinct animal, so that the entire
mass of tree is a family ; in this respect resembling a vege-
table tree, in which every bud may also be regarded as an
individual living plant*.”

To the growth of coral is owing a very great proportion
of the islands in the Polynesian Archipelago and in the
Indian Ocean ; but that there must have been land within a
certain distance from the surface, is very well ascertained, as
it is now known that the coral polypes cannot build from a
greater depth than twenty fathoms.

* Manunder’s Treasury.
CORAL. 3385

Dr. Carpenter gives the following interesting account of
the formation of coral islands :—‘ A large proportion of the
coral islands of the Polynesian Archipelago are shaped like
a crescent, sometimes like a complete ring; and these islands
never rise many feet above the surface of the ocean. The
highest part is always on the windward (easterly) side, against
which the waves are almost constantly dashing. Within the
crescent or ring, is a basin termed a lagoon, and this usually
communicates with the open sea by a channel, sometimes
of considerable width, on the leeward side of the island.
Occasionally this channel is completely filled up by the
growth of the coral; and the lake, thus enclosed, only com-
municates with the sea by filtration through the coral rock.
The coral polypes never build above low-water mark; and
they are not, therefore, immediately concerned in the eleva-
tion of the surface from beneath the waves. This is prin-.
cipally accomplished by the action of the sea itself. Large
masses are often detached by the violence of the waves, from
the lower part of the structure, and these are washed up on
the windward side of the reef. Shells, coral-sand, and
various other dééris, accumulate upon it in like manner,
until at last it is changed into an island, upon which there
is a calcareous soil, capable of supporting various kinds of
3386 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

vegetation. When these have once established themselves,
the elevation of the surface continues with greater rapidity,
successive layers of vegetable mould being deposited by the
rapid and luxuriant vegetation of these tropical islands,
which are soon tenanted by various forms of animals, and
at some subsequent period afford a habitation to man.”

The method of fishing for coral is as follows. A net
composed of two rafters of wood tied crosswise, with lead
fixed to them, and a quantity of loose netting and hemp, is
let down where the coral reef is supposed to be, and when
drawn up, the coral is found entangled in the loose netting ;
great care is required in pulling in the net, as the rope is
apt to break. At Trapani, in Sicily, a very simple and in-
genious contrivance is used for the same purpose. A heavy
‘stone is fixed to a large wooden cross, to each limb of which
are fastened pieces of strong net: this machine, being poised
horizontally, is let down to the bottom of the sea, and made
fast by a strong rope to the boat, which then rows about
over the beds of coral; the large stone breaks the branches,
and these becoming entangled in the net, are thus secured.
Red coral is found in the Mediterranean, about Majorca
and Minorca; on the south coast of Sicily, and on the
African coast; also in the Red Sea, where reefs extend
CORAL. $87

throughout, often rising to the height of twenty feet above
the surface of the sea.

As coral rock is very soft, most of the houses on the south-
western coast of Arabia are entirely built of it. The Red
Sea has always been celebrated for this production, which
accounts for its having been well known to Job, by whom it
is ranked with the pearl and ruby, the onyx and sapphire.
Some commentators doubt the correctness of the translation;
but as the Hebrew interpreters and the oriental versions
agree that coral is intended, and this substance must have
been perfectly familiar to the writer, there is every probabi-
lity that the common rendering is correct.

The following beautiful lines from Montgomery’s ‘ Pelican
Island’ truly and elegantly describe the mighty fabrics of
these tiny architects :—

‘Compared with this amazing edifice,’
Raised by the weakest creatures in existence,
What are the works of intellectual man,—

Thoughts hewn in colamna, or in domes expanded,
Fancies through every maze of beauty shown,
Pride, gratitude, affection, turned to marble,

Tn honour of the living or the dead P

What are they?“ fine-wrought miniatures of art,
538

POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Too exquisite to bear the weight of dew,

‘Which every morn lets fall in pearls upon them,
Till all their pomp sinks down in mouldering relics,
Yet in their ruin lovelier than their prime.
Dust in the balance, atoms in the gale,
Compared with these achievements in the deep,
Were all the monuments of olden time,

In days when there were giants on the earth.
Babel’s stupendous folly, though it aim’d

To scale heaven’s battlements, was but a toy,
The plaything of the world in infancy :-—

The ramparts, towers, and the gates of Babylon,
Built for eternity, though where they stood,
Ruin itself stands still for lack of work,

And desolation keeps unbroken Sabbath.

Great Babylon, in its fall moon of empire,

Even when its ‘head of gold’ was smitten off,
And from a monarch changed into a brute,
Great Babylon was like a wreath of sand

Left by one tide, and cancell’d by the next ;
Egypt's dread wonders, still defying time,
‘Where cities have been crumbled into sand,
Scatter’d by winds beyond the Libyan desert,
Or melted down into the mud of Nile

And cast into tillage o’er the corn-sown fields,
Where Memphis flourish’d and the Pharaohs reign’d.
Egypt’s grey piles of hieroglyphic grandeur,
That have survived the language which they speak—
Preserving its dead emblems to the eye,

Yet hiding from the mind what these reveal ;—
Her pyramids would be mere pinnacles,
DYES. 339

Her giant statues, wrought from rocks of granite,
But puny ornaments for such a pile

As this stupendous mound of catacombs,

Fill’d with dry mummies of the builder worms.”

With regard to the Dyes used by the ancients,—purple,
blue, and scarlet are the only colours recorded in the Bible.
Joseph’s “ coat of many colours” may have been composed
of other hues; and “it would have been desirable to know
whether the art of weaving a piece in various colours was
at this time discovered or not. Judging from the informa-
tion which the text affords, it would seem not; for the word
which is constantly rendered ‘colours,’ may, as in the
marginal reading, with more than equal propriety be ren-
dered ‘ pieces,’ which makes it probable that the agreeable
effect resulting from a combination of colours, was obtained
by patchwork in the first instance, and in after times by
being wrought with a needle. The value and distinction at-
tached to such variegated dresses, shows that they were not
common, and were formed by some elaborate process. In
the time of David, such a dress was a distinction for a
king’s daughter; for we see ladies anticipating the return
840 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

of a victorious general with ‘a prey of divers colours, of
divers colours of needlework on both sides*.” Mr. Roberts
states, that in India it is still customary to invest a favourite
child with “a coat of many colours,” consisting of crimson,
purple, and other colours, which are often tastefully sewn
together. Dyeing was thus practised from the earliest times .
entire pieces were dyed, as the robe of the ephod was blue,
“ornamented with purple and scarlet,” Exodus xxviii. ;
thread, for the embroiderer, as in Exodus xxxv.; and the
skins of animals, “ rams’ skins dyed red,” ch. xxv.

In all probability the Hebrews employed the same ma-
terials for dyeing as the Egyptians, whose country they had
just quitted ; but some of the colours found on the mummy-
cloths were perhaps a later discovery than the period of
the Exodus; and with these we have nothing to do, as
they are not named in Scripture. The dlue of Egypt, ac-
cording to the best authorities, was formed by indigo, which
valuable dye is obtained from the Indigofera tinctoria, a
small shrub, native of India; and in the ancient paintings
at Thebes, the blue is supposed to be oxide of copper, a
mineral abounding in Egypt: green, yellow, fawn-colour,
pale brick or red, brown, and black, with many varieties

* Pictorial Bible.
DYES, $41

of these, are all either vegetable or mineral productions,
and, though well known in Egypt at an early period, may
at least not have been common before the Israelites quitted
that country, which would account for their not being
alluded to in the Sacred Writings.

Many of the Assyrian bas-reliefs are painted with various
colours, particularly blue and red, which were, when dis-
covered, as vivid as if just laid on, but faded on exposure
to the air. Many bricks were found at Nimroud, painted
with brilliant colours, and the ceilings were also gorgeously
painted, or inlaid with ivory and precious woods. “The
battles, sieges, triumphs, the exploits of the chase, and the
ceremonies of religion were portrayed on the walls, sculp-
tured in alabaster, or painted in gorgeous colours. These
pictures were enclosed in coloured borders or friezes of
elaborate and elegant design*.”

Blue, as we have said, is probably of vegetable origin,
for the simple plant-dyes would be used before the more
artificial preparations from metals; but the purple and
scarlet are supposed to have been animal productions, and
as such must be more particularly considered. “The pre-
eminence given at the present day to purple as a royal

* Layard’s ‘Nineveh.’
342 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

colour, is undoubtedly the result of the ancient preference
which arose, when the relative superiority of purple to other
colours was greater than at present. We have seen this
colour frequently mentioned in connection with the works
of the Tabernacle and the dress of the high priest; and
among the heathen we know that the colour was considered
peculiarly appropriate to the service of the gods. The.
Babylonians and other nations used to array their gods in
robes of purple. It is said that when the beautiful purple
of Tyre was first discovered, the sovereign to whom it was
presented, appropriated it as a royal distinction. Homer
intimates that it was only worn by princes; and this limi-
tation of its use was common among other nations. A very
early notice of this occurs in Scripture, where the kings of
Midian, defeated by Gideon, are described as being clad in
purple raiment, Judges viii. It is important to understand
that the word purple in ancient writings does not denote
one particular colour. Pliny mentions the difference be-
tween some of the purples: one was faint, approaching our
scarlet ; another was a very deep red, approaching to violet ;
and a third was of a colour compared to that of coagulated
bullock’s blood. The most esteemed Tyrian purple seems
to have been of this last colour. This dye was obtained
DYES. 348

from several varieties of shell-fish, comprehended under two
species: one (Buccinum) found in cliffs and rocks; and the
other (Purpura or Pelagia) which was the proper purple-
fish taken by fishing in the sea. These shell-fish were
found on the coasts of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and
locally differed in the tint and value of the dye which they
furnished. The Atlantic shells afforded the darkest colour ;
those on the Italian and Sicilian coasts, a positive violet or
purple; and those of the Phcenician shore itself, and in
general the southern coasts of the Mediterranean, yielded
scarlet colour. The dyeing matter must have been very
expensive, as each fish only furnished a very minute quantity
of juice, pressed from a white vein or vessel in the neck,
and which could only be obtained while the animal was
alive*.”

The Purpura has a thick, oval shell, either smooth or
tuberculated; the spire is short. There are very many
recent species, and some fossil.

The “scarlet” is considered by some writers to be merely
a variety of the Tyrian purple, one of which nearly ap-
proached to a bright crimson or scarlet; but a dye of this
kind was certainly known in ancient times, obtained from

* Pictorial Bible.
344 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

an inséct somewhat resembling the American cochineal, but
producing an inferior colour; this insect was called hermes
by the Arabs, and coceus by the Greeks and Romans. “The
female insect is about the size and shape of a pea, of a deep
violet-colour, powdered with white, found chiefly on the
leaves of a species of evergreen oak shrub, which is found
in different parts of western Asia and the south of Europe.
Now, that the colour afforded by this insect was the ‘scarlet’
of Moses, seems tolerably clear. The word rendered ‘ scar-
let’ in the text, and elsewhere in the books of Moses, is
either simply ola, or tola sehani. Tola means a worm, and
according to the analogy in the use of the word ermes,
would literally be rendered ‘worm dye;’ the schani some-
times annexed, is variously interpreted to mean either
double-dyed (as the best scarlets seem to have been), or, ac-
cording to another derivation, bright, deep red dye. The
terms together seem sufficiently to point out a species of
Coccus, doubtless the Coccus ilicis, which is found in abun-
dance on the evergreen oak (Querews coccifera) in the south
of France and many other countries. It is so understood
by the Septuagint and Vulgate*.”

Professor Tychsen, supposing the identity of the Scripture

* Pictorial Bible.
DYES. 345

“scarlet” with the kermes established, properly concludes
that the kermes dye was known before the times of Moses ;
that the dye was known to the Egyptians in the time of
Moses, for the Israelites must have carried it along with
them from Egypt; and that the Arabs received the name
hermes with the dye, from Armenia and Persia, where it was
indigenous, and had been long known.

The kermes has been long superseded by the American
cochineal (Coccus cacti), which is far superior to any ancient
dye. This very singular insect belongs to the order He-
miptera, and the various species are often called scale insects;
they are of diminutive size, the males winged, the females
without these appendages; the antenne are long and fili-
form in the male, the legs short. When young they are
tolerably active, “having much the appearance of tiny red
tortoises, and feeding on the stems or leaves of plants, pierc-
ing them by means of a long and sharp rostrum, which
goes to the very centre of the shoot, causing the sap to
flow in abundance, by which means great injury is done,
especially to the vines. In this state they continue growing
in size for some time; but the period soon arrives when the
sexes undergo a very singular difference in their transforma-
tion. All the insects now affix themselves to the surface of
346 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

the plants or stems; the little activity which they had pre-
viously possessed, entirely ceasing. ‘The males discontinue
to increase in size, and if one of them be opened carefully, a
small and elegant chrysalis will be found in the old skin of
the larva; the females, however, continue to increase in size,
until they are many times larger than the other sex, the
margins of the body being glued down to the plant, the
body being by degrees distended by a very great number of
eggs, until nothing more than the upper and under skins of
the. insects remain.” The eggs are deposited in a layer of
white, gummy matter, which prevents them from sticking to
the bark, and are by degrees pushed beneath the body; the
female then dies, and the young ones, when hatched, make
‘their way from beneath this scaly covering.

As a proof of the ravages committed by these insects, it
is said that the orange-trees in the island of Fayal, one of
the Azores, were entirely destroyed by them; this injury
extended also to St. Michael’s; and the inhabitants of this
group of islands, who depended almost solely on the pro-
duce of their orange groves, were reduced to great distress
by the depredations of this apparently insignificant insect. —

The Skins of Animals were used for various purposes by
SKINS. 347

the Hebrews, in common with other ancient nations. They
were employed for writing on, before parchment was in-
vented. Herodotus mentions the barbarians as writing or
painting on the skins of goats and sheep; and Diodorus
describes the ancient Persian records as being kept on the
same substance; even in America, the Mexicans had books
of skins, and the North American Indians had maps painted
on skins. It was also certainly one of the most ancient, if
not the most ancient form of portable writing; and they
have great probability on their side, who contend that the
books of Moges were written on the skins of sheep or goats.
On the bas-reliefs of Nineveh are represented scribes writing
down, apparently om leather, the number of heads of the
slaughtered enemy, brought to them by Assyrian warriors,
Thus were the heads of the seventy sons of Ahab brought
in baskets to Jezreel, and laid “ in two heaps at the entering
in of the gate ;” and such is still the mode of reckoning the
loss of an enemy in the East. The Jews were most certainly
acquainted with the art of preparing and dyeing skins,
for ‘rams’ skins dyed red” made a part of the covering of
the Tabernacle. .

In connection with this fact, the following particulars of
a Hebrew manuscript roll of the Pentateuch, now in the
348 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

public library at Cambridge, are very instructive. The roll
was discovered by Dr. Claudius Buchanan, in the record .
chest of the black Jews in Malabar, supposed to be de-
scended from the first dispersion of the Hebrew nation, by
Nebuchadnezzar. The date of the manuscript could not be
ascertained, but the text is supposed to have been derived
from those copies which their ancestors brought with them
to India. It is written ona roll of goats’ skins dyed red,
and measures forty-eight feet in length by twenty-two
mehes in breadth. As it wants Leviticus and the greater
part of Deuteronomy, it is calculated that its original length
must have been not less than ninety Enylish feet. In its
present condition it consists of thirty-seven skins, compre-
hending one hundred and seventy columns four inches in
breadth, and containing each from forty to fifty lines. Dr.
Buchanan states, that the Cabul Jews, who travel into the
interior of China, say that in some synagogues the law is
still written on a roll of leather, made of goats’ skins dyed
red; not on vellum, but on a soft flexible leather.

- Parchment is but an improvement, although a very im-
portant one, on the process just mentioned. It was one of
the latest, if not the latest, of the various processes we have
noticed, although some assign it a very early date, for want
SKINS. 849

of adverting to the difference between it and skins less
artificially prepared. The improvement is said to have been
invented at Pergamos, at a time when Ptolemy Philadelphus
prohibited the exportation of papyrus from Egypt, with the
view of obstructing the formation of a grand library, which
Eumenes, king of Pergamos, was forming, and which he
feared might eclipse his own great library at Alexandria.
It is certain that the best parchment was made at Pergamos,
and skins thus prepared were hence called charta pergamena,
of which our ‘parchment’ is a corruption. In Greek they
are sometimes called membrana, under which name St. Paul
mentions them in 2 Timothy iv. .

Parchment came to be used for legal, sacred, and other
particular classes of works; but the comparative cheapness
of papyrus, combined with as much durability as could be
required for the more common literary works, maintained
it still in general use. The Jews soon began to write their
Scriptures on parchment, of which the rolls of the laws used
in their synagogues are still composed.

Leather was also used in the manufacture of saddles,
though at a-later period; as in early times a piece of hide,
leather, or cloth thrown across the back of the animal was
the common substitute. The expression in Judges xix., “ two
350 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

asses saddled,” might apply to any kind of preparation for
riding, and probably meant only the bridle and a cloth of
some description.

Skins were evidently used by the Assyrians for various
purposes ; as, for instance, warriors are sculptured in the act
of escaping from the enemy by supporting themselves on
inflated skins, in the same mode which is practised to this
day by the Arabs on the banks of the rivers in Assyria and
Mesopotamia. The soles of sandals, and straps of different
kinds also, are apparently of leather.

Leather was very early in use as a means of defence
for the person during war; Diodorus says, that the first
kings of Egypt clothed themselves during battle with the
skins of lions and bulls; but the defence soon took the form
of a shield; many are mentioned in Scripture, or at least
four names are used to distinguished them, and though
the frames were apparently composed of wood, the cover-
ing seems to have been hide thickly folded, and, if plated
with metal, were often formed interiorly of skins. In
1 Kings x. and 2 Chronicles ix. shields are mentioned made
of gold, but in all probability the metal was only employed
on the exterior, the chief material being the bull’s hide.
Homer, in speaking of Hector, says—
SKINS, 351

“So saying, the hero went, and as he strode,
The dudi-ekin border of his bossy shield
Smote on his heels and on his neck behind.”

This must have been a very large shield, and probably
answered to the ¢zinnah of the Hebrews, for the making of
which, Solomon appropriated six hundred shekels of gold;
whilst the magen, mentioned in Genesis xv., was only half the
size; and the size, as well as the material, is again illustrated
by a reference to Homer.

“The best and broadest bucklers of the hoet,

And brightest helmets put we on, and arm’d
With largest spears advance.
: Ye, then, who feel your "hearts
Undaunted, but are arm’d with smaller shields,
Them give to those who fear, and in exchange,
Their stronger shields and broader take yourselves.”
And again :—

“With many a stroke

The bull-hide shields and lighter targes rang.”

The Hebrews, besides the two already named, used a
variety of shields, which are mentioned in various parts of
the Scripture, as the sosairad, which, from the etymology,
seems to have been of a circular form, and the shelet, which
appears to have differed but slightly from the magen, as in
352 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

Solomon’s Song they are used as synonymous terms: “Thy
neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armoury,
whereon there hang a thousand ducklers, all shields of mighty
men.” The first of these words is magen, the latter shiltai,
the plural of she/et.

A few more extracts from Homer will tend to show more
fully the ancient use of leather in the construction of these
articles of defence :—

‘* Ajax approached him, bearing, like a tower,
His sevenfold brazen shield, by Tychius wrought
With art elaborate; like him was none
In shield-work, and whose home in Hyla stood.
He framed the various shields with seven hides
Of fatted beeves, all plated o'er with brass.”

Again :—

“It struck the shield of Ajax; through the brass,
Ita eighth integument, through six of hide
It flew, and spent its fary on the seventh.”

There are also allusions in Scripture to anointing and
rubbing the shield, which implies the use of skins, as they
require this process to prevent cracking. In Isaiah is the
following :—“ Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield ;”
and in 2 Samuel i., “The shield of the mighty is cast away,
the shield of Saul not anointed with oil.” The words added
SKINS. : 858

to this verse, in our translation, refer the expression to Saul
as an anointed kitig, “as though he had not been anointed
with oil,” but might be intended to express the total de-
struction of a warrior whose shield was exposed to the rain
and dew of the “mountains of Gilboa.” The large shields
were supported by a /eathern thong passing across the
breast :

“ Bvery buckler’s thong
Shall sweat on the toil’d bosom.”

“Cooling the wound inflicted by the shaft
Of Pandarus; for it had long endured
The chafe, and sultry pressure of the belt,

‘That bore his ample shield.”

Bow-strings were formed either of leather thongs, horse-
hair, or the sinews of oxen ; and the dott/es used for holding
liquids were also made of the skins of various animals.
Those of kids and goats are still employed ; the head being
cut off, the body is extracted, and the neck serves as the
mouth of the vessel: the skins of camels and oxen serve
the same purpose, where a larger quantity of water is re-
quired. Bottles are likewise made of prepared leather,
shaped like a powder-flask. The bottle carried by Hagar,
when wandering in the wilderness of Beersheba, was pro-
bably a kid-skin. Wine was kept, as well as water, in this

2a
354 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

kind of vessel, as is evident from various passages in the
Old and New Testament; and this custom still continues
in the East. Skin bottles were not peculiar to Asia, they
were equally employed by the Greeks and Romans. Homer
speaks of goat-skins,

*Tumid with the vine’s
All-cheering juice.”

There are many interesting illustrations of this custom in
the paintings at Herculaneum and Pompeii: one represents
a girl pouring wine from a kid-skin into a vase, and another
shows a large skin of wine mounted on a cart, and being
drawn off into amphore, or earthen vessels.

Keeping in mind the nature of the ancient bottles, the
Biblical student will find no difficulty in comprehending
the various allusions dispersed throughout the Scriptures ;
such as Job’s expression, “It is ready to burst like new
bottles ;” that in the 119th Psalm, “ For I am become like
a bottle in the smoke,” that is, shrivelled, dried up, as lea-
ther would be by a lengthened exposure to the influence of
heat and smoke; in Joshua ix., “These bottles of wine
which we filled were new; and behold they be rent;” and
in Matthew ix., “Neither do men put new wine into old
THE HOOPOE. 855

bottles; else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out,
and the bottles perish; but they put new wine into new
bottles, and both are preserved :” the fermentation of the
new wine would be too strong for old skins to resist, but
by employing new skins, both wine and bottles would be
preserved.

Though rather out of place here, the Lapwing of Levi-
ticus xi. must be referred to, having been accidentally
omitted in its proper order. It is supposed to be the
Hoopoe, Upupa epops, Plate XIII., a bird often mentioned
in the writings of antiquity, and remarkable for the beautiful
crest, which forms so conspicuous an ornament to the head ;
the plumage is fawn-coloured, barred with black and white
on the wings and lower part of the back; the tail is black,
with a white crescent at the base. This pretty bird is about
twelve inches long; it feeds on worms, snails, and insects.
The prohibition of the hoopoe as an article of diet, in Levi-
ticus xi., probably arose from the nature of its food. It is
well known in Egypt.
356 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

There is so much of interest and instruction to be derived
from the study of the Natural History of the Bible, as, in-
deed, from every department of Nature, inseparable as it is
from the study and perception of the attributes of the great
Creator of Nature, that it is hoped this unpretending little
volume will prove useful to many who have hitherto read
the Bible without comprehending a great portion of its
contents, for want of some information on this subject.
The young student of Nature will here see grouped, in a
small compass, all those animals to which any reference is
made by the sacred writers; and though doubts exist as to
the identity of some species, which may possibly be cleared
up by future discoveries, and a mystery hangs over others
which may never be swept away; this does not lessen the
value of the information already gained, or make it less
incumbent upon us to study, with an earnest mind and
a loving heart, those manifestations of the Deity which
He has spread around us, from the earliest times, by His
creative power.
——
Adder ....... cc cece eee enes Genesis x], ........
Ant 20 ccc ce cee cece eee eee Proverbs vi. .......
APO oo eee c cece ee eee nee 1 Kings x. ........
ABP occ ccc cece ce eee ees Deuteronomy xxxii. ..
Ass (Plate V.) .........-0-055 Genesis xii.........
Badger ......... sce ceeenees Exodus xxv. .......
Bat 2.2... cece eee ce cee eee Leviticus xi. .......
Bear (Plate I.) .............. ] Samuel xvii.......
Bee... cece cece ee ence Deuteronomy i... ....
Behemoth (Hippopotamus) (Pl. TIT.) Job Ix. ...........
Beetle ...... 0. cscs cece . Levitious xi. ........
Bittern 2.0.0... 665 cece eens Ieaiah xiv... ......
Boar (Plate IV.) .....:....... Psalm Ixxx.........
Camel (Plate V.)........-.4.- Genesis xii. ........
Chameleon ............0.0065 Leviticus xi. .......
Chamois (Giraffe) (Plate VIII.) .. Deuteronomy xiv. ...
Cock .... 0... eee ee eee eee Matthew xxvi.......
Cockatrice (Adder) ........... Proverbs xxiii. ...,..

Coney (Daman) (Plate II.) ..... Leviticus xi. ....°..
358 INDEX.

0) a Job xxviii, .........
Cormorant ........ 0.2 eee Leviticus xi. ........
Crane (Plate XIV.)............ Isaiah xxx. .........
Cuckoo (Zern) .......... ‘Veeee Leviticus xi. ........
Dog .... 2. ccc e eee eee cece Exodus xi. .........
Dove (Plate XTIT.)............ Genesis viii. ........
Dove, turtle... 2... cc cece eee Leviticus xiv. .......
Dyes ...... Lb ee tee ew ee ones Genesis xxv. ........
Eagle (Plate X.) ....... -.... Exodus xix. ........
Eagle, Gier (Swan) sone ee ne eeee Leviticus xi. ......
Ferret ...00. 0 wees cece cece ee Leviticus xi. ........
Fly 20... cece cece eee eens Exodus viii. ........
Fox (Jackal) (Plate I.) ........ Judges xv. .........
Frog... 0. ese cece cee neces Exodus viii, .......
Glede (Egyptian Vulture) ...... Deuteronomy xiv. ....
Gnat 2... eee eee eee eee Matthew xxiii. ......
Goat (Plate VII.) . ..eee Genesis iv. .........
Goat, wild (Jéer) (Plate VIL. ).. . Deuteronomy xiv. ....
Grasshopper ..............5 Leviticus xi. ........
Hare .... cece cece cee eee ne Leviticus xi. ........
‘ Hart (Antelope) (Plate VIII.) .. Deuteronomy xii. ....
Hawk ...... cc cee cece ee seee Leviticus xi. ........
Hawk, Night......... deeeees Leviticus xi
Hawk, Sparrow ..........-... Job xxxix. .......46.
Heron 0... 60. ccc e ee eee ee Leviticus xi. ........
INDEX. 359

Page

Horse ........- Se teeeeeeees Genesis xlvii. ....... 87
Ivory .....cceeeee. ete ee sees 1 Kingsx.......... - 329
Kite 2... . cc cece eee eee Leviticus xi. ........ 166
Lapwing (Hoopoe) (Plate XIII.).. Leviticus xi . 3855
sect e eee e tae ene eens Proverbs xxx........ 818
Leopard ..........ccceeeveee Isaiah xi. .......... 69
Leviathan (Crocodile) .......... Job ili, 22.0.0... 158
Lice 0.0... ccc cece ce cece Exodus viii. ........ 302
Lion 2.0... cece cece eens Genesis xlix......... 638
Lizard (Plate XVI. ) ccccccceee Leviticus xi, ........ 243
Locust ..... cc cece cece ee ene Exodus x........... 266
Mole ........ bev eceeseeeee Leviticus xi. ........ 88
Moth ........ cece ce ee eee Job iv. ..... eee eee 292
Mouse (Jerboa) (Plate II.) ...... Leviticus xi. ........ 71
Osprey (Plate X.) ....:....... Leviticus xi. ........ 164
Ossifrage (Vuléure) ........055 Leviticus xi. ........ 159
Ostrich (Plate XIV.)....... «+ Job xxx. oo... 208
Owl (Plate XI.)............65 Leviticus xi. ......... 168
Owl, great, (Zdis) (Plate XV.) .. Leviticus xi. ........ 222
Owl, little, (Barn Owl) (Plate XT) Leviticus xi. ........ 170
Ox (Plate VI.) ..........0008 Genesis i. .......... 141
Ox, wild (Plate VI.) .......... Isaiah li. .........0. 142
Partridge (Plate XIT.)......... 1 Samuel xxvi. ....... 195
Peacock ...... cece cee e cena 1 Kings x. . ....... 188
Pearl ....... cece cece ees «.. dob xxviii........... 822
Pelican (Plate XV.)........... Leviticus xi. ........ 224
360 INDEX.

Page
Pigeon .......seceserees ence Genesis xv. ......... 200
Pygarg (Antelope) .......0.+5. Deuteronomy xiv..... 119
Quail (Plate XII) .. cece eee ceee Exodus xvi. ........ 198
Raven ..... 2. cece cece eee ee Genesis viii. ........ 186
Roe, Roebuck (Gazelle) (Plate VI.) 1 Chronicles xii. ..... 115
Scorpion ..........e.eeeeeee Deuteronomy vili. .... 315
Serpent ...........0.0 ee eee Genesis iii. ......... 245
Serpents, fiery ..............0 Numbers xxi. . ..... 249
Sheep (Plate TX). ............ Genesis iv... ... ceoee 198
Skins ....... 0. eee eee eee 2 Kingsi........... 846
Snail .. 0... cee eee ees Leviticus xi. ........ 820
Sparrow .... 6... cece cence Leviticus xi. ........ 18]
Spider ........... cece eee ee Job viii. ........... 808
Stork (Plate XIV.) . Leviticus xi. ........ 218
Swallow ..........e0eeee eee Psalm Ixxxiv. ....... 174
Swan (Purple Water-hen) ...... Leviticus xi. ........ 285
Tortuise ....... 0, eee cece ee Leviticus xi. ....... , 287
A (rr Genesis xv.......... 238
Dnicorn (Rhinoceros) (Plate III.) . Numbers xxiii. 79
Viper .... 0. cece cece ee ce ee Job xx. . eeeeeee 245
Vulture (Plate X.) ............ Leviticus 3 5 <r 187
Weasel .......... cece cece ne Leviticus xi. ........ 48
Whale ........0... 2 cece ena Genesis i. .......... 151
Wolf oo... cece ce ee Genesis xlix 58

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LIST OF WORKS. 5

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6 LIST OF WORKS.

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36.

87.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42,

43.

44,

LIST OF WORKS. 7

THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED; or, the History, Affinities, and
Osteology of the Dopo, Sorrrarmg, and other extinct birds of the
Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon. By H. EB. SrricKLanp,
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CRYPTOGAMIA ANTARCTICA; or, Cryptogamic Botany of the
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46.

46.

4%,

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49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

LIST OF WORKS. -

Serials.
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ILLUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH MYCOLOGY ; containing Figures
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ICONES PLANTARUM ; or, Figures, with brief descriptive characters
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO ORNITHOLOGY. By Simm Wittiam Jar- .
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CONCHOLOGIA JCONICA; or, Figures and Descriptions of the
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