Kite
kit ('ayyah; iktinos; Latin Milvus ictinus or regalis): A
medium-sized member of the hawk tribe (see HAWK). This bird is
27 inches long, of bright reddish-brown color, has sharply
pointed wings and deeply forked tail. It is supposed to have
exceptionally piercing eyes. It takes moles, mice, young game
birds, snakes and frogs, as well as carrion for food. Its head
and facial expression are unusually eagle-like. It was common
over Israel in winter, but bred in the hills of Galilee and
rough mountainous places, so it was less conspicuous in
summer. It is among the lists of abominations (see Lev 11:14
and Dt 14:13). It is notable that this is the real bird
intended by Job to be used as that whose eye could not trace
the path to the silver mine:
"That path no bird of prey knoweth,
Neither hath the falcon's eye seen it" (Job 28:7).
The word used here in the original Hebrew is 'ayyah, which was
the name for kite. Our first translators used "vulture"; our
latest efforts give "falcon," a smaller bird of different
markings, not having the kite's reputation for eyesight.
Gene Stratton-Porter
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-A bird forbidden as food
Le 11:14; De 14:13
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(Heb. ayyah), a rapacious and keen-sighted bird of prey
belonging to the hawk family. The Hebrew word thus rendered
occurs in three passages -- Le 11:14; De 14:13; Job 28:7 In
the two former it is translated "kite" in the Authorized
Version, in the latter "vulture." It is enumerated among the
twenty names of birds mentioned in De 14:1 ... which were
considered unclean by the Mosaic law and forbidden to be used
as food by the Israelites.
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an unclean and keen-sighted bird of prey (Lev. 11:14; Deut.
14:13). The Hebrew word used, _'ayet_, is rendered
"vulture" in
Job 28:7 in Authorized Version, "falcon" in Revised
Version. It
is probably the red kite (Milvus regalis), a bird of
piercing
sight and of soaring habits found all over Israel.
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'ayyah (Leviticus 11:14). The red kite, Milvus regalis,
remarkable for its sharp sight (Job 28:7, where for "vulture"
translated "kite," 'ayyah even its eye fails to penetrate the
miner's hidden "path"; Deuteronomy 14:13). From an Arabic root
"to turn," the kite sailing in circles guided by the rudder-
like tail. The phrase "after its kind" implies that a genus or
class of birds, not merely one individual, is meant. The bony
orbits of the eye and the eye itself are especially large in
proportion to the skull, in all the Raptores. The sclerotic
plates enclose the eye as in a hoop, in the form of a goblet
with a trumpet rim; by this the eye becomes a self-adjusting
telescope to discern near or far objects. Hence, when a beast
dies in a wilderness, in a very short time kites and vultures,
invisible before to man, swoop in spiral circles from all
quarters toward it.
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And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,
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And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
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Kite. - As suggested by the analogy with the Arabic, the black kite (milvus nigrans) is probably meant by Hebr. dã'ah or dáyyah (Leviticus 11:14; Deuteronomy 14:13; Isaiah 34:15), interpreted kite in the D.V.; it is one of the most common of the scavenger birds of prey of the country, and for this reason, is carefully protected by the villagers. Other kinds of kites, in particular the milvus regalis, are common in Israel.
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