hawk Summary and Overview

(Heb. netz, a word expressive of strong and rapid flight, and hence appropriate to the hawk). It is an unclean bird (Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15). It is common in Syria and surrounding countries. The Hebrew word includes various species of Falconidae, with special reference perhaps to the kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), the hobby (Hypotriorchis subbuteo), and the lesser kestrel (Tin, Cenchris). The kestrel remains all the year in Israel, but some ten or twelve other species are all migrants from the south. Of those summer visitors to Israel special mention may be made of the Falco sacer and the Falco lanarius. (See NIGHT-HAWK T0002729.)

#Le 11:16; De 14:15; Job 39:26| The hawk includes various species of the Falconidae. With respect to the passage in Job (l.c.) which appears to allude to the migratory habits of hawks, it is curious to observe that of the ten or twelve lesser raptors (hawk tribe) of Israel, nearly all are summer migrants. The kestrel remains all the year, but the others are all migrants from the south.

HAWK , a general name for a well known group of fierce and rapacious birds, unclean by the Levitical law, Lev 11:16; Deut 14:15, but so sacred among the Greeks and Egyptians that to kill one, even unintentionally, was a capital crime. Of the ten or twelve species of these falcons found in Palestine most are migratory, Job 39:26. Kestrel, or Hawk. (Tinnunculus alaudarius. After Tristram.)

neets; implying "strong and rapid flight". Migratory in S. Europe and parts of Asia; so Job 39:26, "doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the S.?" Of the dozen lesser raptores, birds, in Israel nearly all are summer migrants; the Falco saker and Falco lanarius, besides the smaller Falco melanopterus, Hypotriorchis subbuteo or the hobby, etc. The sacred monuments show that one kind was sacred in Egypt. The Greek name implies "sacredness", hierax.