Swallow

Rendering in the English versions for "deror" (Ps. lxxxiv. 4 [A. V. 3]; Prov. xxvi. 2) and for "sus" or "sis" (Isa. xxxviii. 14: Jer. viii. 7 [A. V. "crane"]). There are about ten species of swallow (Hirundinidœ) and the closely allied martin and swift (Cypselidœ) in Palestine. In the Talmud "senunit" is the usual name for the swallow, and the Biblical "deror" is also used. A distinction is made between the white, the green (or yellow), and the house swallow (Ḥul. 62a). The senunit, which, according to Shab. 77b, inspires the eagle with dread, may perhaps be intended for another bird of the species Tyrannus intrepidus, which seats itself on the back of the eagle and which resembles the swallow.

Bibliography:

  * Tristram, Nat. Hist. p. 204;
  * Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, p. 206.



E. G. H. I. M. C.