There are several varieties of this species, all too well known to
need a particular description. They are nocturnal birds of prey, and
have their eyes better adapted for discerning objects in the evening or
twilight than in the glare of day. 1. כוס, Lev. xi, 17; Deut. xiv, 16;
Psalm cii, 6, is in our version rendered the little owl.” Aquila,
Theodotion, Jerom, Kimchi, and most of the older interpreters, are
quoted to justify this rendering. Michaëlis, at some length, supports
the opinion that it is the horned owl. Bochart, though with some
hesitation, suspected it to be the _onocrotalus_, a kind of pelican,
because the Hebrew name signifies _cup_, and the pelican is remarkable
for a pouch or bag under the lower jaw; but there are good reasons for
supposing that bird to be the קאת of the next verse. Dr. Geddes thinks
this bird the cormorant; and as it begins the list of water fowl, and is
mentioned always in the same contexts with קאת, confessedly a water
bird, his opinion may be adopted. 2. קאת, Lev. xi, 17; Deut. xiv, 16;
Isaiah xxxiv, 11. In the two first places our translators render this
the great owl,” which is strangely placed after the little owl, and
among water birds. Our translators,” says the author of Scripture
Illustrated,” “seem to have thought the owl a convenient bird, as we
have three owls in two verses.” Some critics think it means a species of
night bird, because the word may be derived from נשף, which signifies
_the twilight_, the time when owls fly about. But this interpretation,
says Parkhurst, seems very forced; and since it is mentioned among water
fowls, and the LXX. have, in the first and last of those texts, rendered
it by ἴβις, _the ibis_, we are disposed to adopt it here, and think the
evidence strengthened by this, that in a Coptic version of Lev. xi, 17,
it is called _ip_ or _hip_, which, with a Greek termination, would very
easily make ιβις. 3. קפון, which occurs only in Isaiah xxxiv, 15, is in
our version rendered the great owl.” 4. לילית, Isa. xxxiv, 14, in our
version the screech owl.” The root signifies _night_; and as undoubtedly
a bird frequenting dark places and ruins is referred to, we must admit
some kind of owl.
A place of lonely desolation, where
The screeching tribe and pelicans abide,
And the dun ravens croak mid ruins drear,
And moaning owls from man the farthest hide.
need a particular description. They are nocturnal birds of prey, and
have their eyes better adapted for discerning objects in the evening or
twilight than in the glare of day. 1. כוס, Lev. xi, 17; Deut. xiv, 16;
Psalm cii, 6, is in our version rendered the little owl.” Aquila,
Theodotion, Jerom, Kimchi, and most of the older interpreters, are
quoted to justify this rendering. Michaëlis, at some length, supports
the opinion that it is the horned owl. Bochart, though with some
hesitation, suspected it to be the _onocrotalus_, a kind of pelican,
because the Hebrew name signifies _cup_, and the pelican is remarkable
for a pouch or bag under the lower jaw; but there are good reasons for
supposing that bird to be the קאת of the next verse. Dr. Geddes thinks
this bird the cormorant; and as it begins the list of water fowl, and is
mentioned always in the same contexts with קאת, confessedly a water
bird, his opinion may be adopted. 2. קאת, Lev. xi, 17; Deut. xiv, 16;
Isaiah xxxiv, 11. In the two first places our translators render this
the great owl,” which is strangely placed after the little owl, and
among water birds. Our translators,” says the author of Scripture
Illustrated,” “seem to have thought the owl a convenient bird, as we
have three owls in two verses.” Some critics think it means a species of
night bird, because the word may be derived from נשף, which signifies
_the twilight_, the time when owls fly about. But this interpretation,
says Parkhurst, seems very forced; and since it is mentioned among water
fowls, and the LXX. have, in the first and last of those texts, rendered
it by ἴβις, _the ibis_, we are disposed to adopt it here, and think the
evidence strengthened by this, that in a Coptic version of Lev. xi, 17,
it is called _ip_ or _hip_, which, with a Greek termination, would very
easily make ιβις. 3. קפון, which occurs only in Isaiah xxxiv, 15, is in
our version rendered the great owl.” 4. לילית, Isa. xxxiv, 14, in our
version the screech owl.” The root signifies _night_; and as undoubtedly
a bird frequenting dark places and ruins is referred to, we must admit
some kind of owl.
A place of lonely desolation, where
The screeching tribe and pelicans abide,
And the dun ravens croak mid ruins drear,
And moaning owls from man the farthest hide.