SIRPAD (15711?) is mentioned only once by Isaiah (1v. 13) : And instead of the'brier (sirpaa') shall come up the myrtle.' Though this has ge nerally been considered a thorny and prickly plant, it does not follow from the context that such a plant is necessarily meant. It would be sufficient for the sense that some useless or insignificant plant be understood, and there are many such in desert and uncultivated places. In addition to Palaerus Carduus, Urtica, Conyza, species of Polygonum, of Ezephorbia, etc., have been adduced ; and also Ruscus aculeatzes, or butcher's broom.'—J. F. R.
SIS (on?) or SUS (DID) occurs only in Is.
motviii. 14, Jer. viii. 7, where it is translated crane in the A. V. The LXX. give xeXt3u5p, and this is probably the true meaning, as Bochart has shown (Hieroz. 1. 69), although Rabbinical writers produce Arabic authority to prove that Sis is the name of a long-legged bird. Sis, however, is an imitative name expressive of the swallow's voice or twitter. Bochart says that the Venetians call the swallow He also calls attention to the connection between Sis and the Egyptian /sis, of whom it was fabled that she was turned into a swallow.
The species of swallows in Syria and Palestine, so far as they are known, appear all to be the same as those of Europe : they are--1. Hirundo rustica or domestica, the chimney swallow, with a forked tail, marked with a row of white spots, whereof Hirundo Syriaca, if at all different, is most likely only a variety.
2. Hirundo Urbica, the martin or common win dow swallow. These two are most likely the' species comprehended under the name of Sis.
3. Hiritiza'o Riparia, sand-martin or shore-bird, not uncommon in northern Egypt, near the mouths of the Delta, and in southern Palestine, about Gaza, where it nestles in holes, even on the sea shore.
4. Hirundo Assies, the swift or black martin, distinguished by its larger size, short legs, very long wings, forked tail, and by all the toes of the feet turning forward : these, armed with small, crooked, and very sharp claws, enable the bird to hang against the sides of walls, but it cannot rise from the ground on account of the length of its wings. The last two, but more particularly this species, we take to be the Deror, on account of the name Dururi ; which was most probably applied to it, because the swift martin prefers towers, minarets, and ruins to build in, and is, besides, a bird to which the epithet of free' is particularly ap plicable [DERox]. On the European coast of the Mediterranean it bears the name of Barbota, and in several parts of France, including Paris, is known by the vulgar name of le Juif,' the Jew ; and, finally, being the largest and most conspicu ous bird of the species in Palestine, it is the type of the heraldic martlet, originally applied in the science of blazon as the especial distinction of Crusader pilgrims, being borrowed from Oriental nations, where the bird is likewise honoured with the term Hadji, or Pilgrim, to desigmate its migra tory habits.—C. H. S.