SALACH (sal'ak), (Heb. •14, shaw-lawk', bird of prey), usually thought to he the pelican (from casting itself into the sea, Lev. xi:18; Dent. xiv:17).
It has been variously applied to the eagle, the gerfalcon, the gannet, the great gull, and the cor morant. Of the lIebrew Salach nothing is known but that it was an unclean bird. We believe the satach to have been a species of 'tern,' consid ered to be identical with the 'Sterna Caspica,' so called because it is found about the Caspian Sea ; but it is equally common to the Polar, Bal tic, and Black Seas, and if they are truly the same, is not only abundant for several months in the year on the coast of Palestine, but frequent:, the lakes and pools far inland ; flying across the deserts to the Euphrates, and to the Persian and Red Seas, and proceeding up the Nile. It is the largest of the tern or sea-swallow genus, being about the weight of a pigeon, and near two feet in length, having a large black head; powerful, pointed crimson bill ; a white and grey body, with forked tail, and wings greatly exceeding the tips of the tail ; the feet are very small, weak, and but slightly webbed, so that it swims perhaps only accidentally, but with sufficient power on land to spring up and to rise from level ground. It flies
with immense velocity, darting along the surface of the sea to snap at mollusca or small fishes, or wheeling through the air in pursuit of insects; and in calm weather, after rising to a great height, it drops perpendicularly down to near the surface of the water, but never alights except on land ; and it is at all times disposed to utter a kind of laugh ing scream. This tern nestles in high cliffs, some times at a very considerable distance from the sea. 'Sterna Nilotica' appears to be the young bird, or one nearly allied.
Thus the species is not likely to have been un known to the Israelites, even while they were in the desert; and as the black tern, 'Sterna n(eri cans,' and perhaps the 'Procellarza obscu•a' of the same locality, may have been confounded with it, their number was more than sufficient to cause them to be noticed in the list of prohibited birds. (See CORMORANT.) C. H. S.