NETS 0)? netz; Sept. ibpa; Vulg. accipiter, an unclean bird ; A. V. HAWK ; Lev. xi. 16 ; Deut. xiv. 15 ; Job xxxix. 26). The English name is an altered form of the old word fawk or falk, and in natural history represents several genera of raptorial birds ; as does the Arabic naz, and, no doubt, also the Hebrew netz. Western Asia and Lower Egypt, and consequently the intermediate territory of Syria and Palestine, are the habitation or transitory resi dence of a considerable number of species of the order Raptores, which, even including the shortest winged, have great powers of flight, are remarkably enterprising, live to a great age, are migratory, or followers upon birds of passage, or remain in a region so abundantly stocked with pigeon and turtle-dove as Palestine, and affording such a variety of ground to hunt their particular prey— abounding as it does in mountain and forest, plain, desert, marsh, river, and sea-coast. We shall here enumerate, so far as our information will permit, the Falcotticke of this region, exclusive of those mentioned in other articles [OENTIYAH ; NESHER; DAAHj.
Falcons, or the `noble' birds of prey used for hawking, have for many ages been objects of great interest, and still continue to be bought at high prices. They are consequently imported from dis tant countries, as central Asia, Iceland, Barbary, etc. Their love of liberty often renders them irre claimable when once on the wing; and their powers and boldness, independent of circumstances, and the extent of range which the long-winged species in particular can take, are exemplified by their presence in every quarter of the globe. The Falco communis, or Peregrine falcon, is so generally dif fused as to occur even in New Holland and South America. As a type of the genus, we may add that it has the two foremost quill-feathers of almost equal length, and that when the wings are closed they nearly reach the end of the tail. On each side of the crooked point of the bill there is an angle or prominent tooth, and from the nostrils backwards a black streak passes beneath the eye and forms a patch on each side of the throat, giving the bird and its congeners a whiskered and menacing aspect.
Next we may place Falco Aroeris of Sir J. G. Wilkinson, the sacred hawk of Egypt. This, if it be not in reality the same as, or a mere variety of, the Peregrine, should have retained the ancient epithet of Hierax, and the hawkers' name of Sacre, derived from the Arabic Saqr, which evidently -applies to it. This bird has the same moustachio marks, and from them the old name Gernonia, which in base Latinity indicates whiskers, may have been derived. Innumerable representations of it occur in Egyptian monuments, since, in the cha racter of Horhat, or bird of victory, it overshadows kings and heroes, like the Gariecia, Simurg, and the Humnia bird of Eastern Asia ; but it is also an emblem of Re, the Sun, and numerous other divinities ; for an account of which we refer to Sir J. G. Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Egyptians, 2d Series.
The Hobby, Falco subbuteo, is no doubt a second or third species of sacred hawk, having similar ger nonia. Both this bird and the tractable Merlin, Falco cesalon, are used in the falconry of the inferior Moslem landowners of Asiatic Turkey.
Besides these the Kestril, Falco tinizunculus, occurs in Syria, and Falco thinunculoides, or lesser Kestril, in Egypt ; and it is probable that both species visit these two territories according to the seasons.
To the noble' birds we may add the Gerfalcon, Falco gyrfalco, which is one-third larger than the Peregrine : it is imported from Tartary and sold at Constantinople, Aleppo, and Damascus. The great birds fly at antelopes, bustards, cranes, etc. ; and of the genus Astur, with shorter wings than true falcons, the Goshawk, Falco palumbarius, and the Falcon Gentil, Falco gentilis, are either imported, or taken in their nests, and used to fly at lower and aquatic game. It is among the above that the seven species of hunting hawks enumerated by Dr. Russell must be sought ; though from the circum stance that the Arabic names of the birds alone were known to him, it is difficult to assign their scientific denominations; but the following identifi cation is tolerably evident—I. Al-Illez or Baraban is the Gerfalcon ; 2. Al-Saphy, the Peregrine ; 3. Al-Shaheen, the Doctor himself asserts to be the Falcon Gentil ; 4. Al-Zygraniez, the Goshawk. One of the remaining species is, no doubt, the Merlin ; and the last, Al-Bashak, is the crested Buzzard, Falco Bacha, which is most abundant in Africa, and the principal enemy of the Shaphan (Hyrax). The smaller and less powerful hawks of the genus Nisus are mostly in use on account of the sport they afford being less fatiguing, as they are employed to fly at pigeons, partridges, quails, Pterocles, Katta, and other species of Ganga. There are various other raptorial birds, not here enumerated, found in Syria, Arabia, and Egypt.
We have at this moment before us coloured repre sentations of three such, copied from the painted sculptures of ancient Egypt ; and in conformity with the common laws of animated nature, the Nile cannot be without a variety of species feeding on the produce of its waters and its visitors ; but the above enumeration will be found, we trust, sufficient for our present purpose.—C. H. S.