The Griffon Vulture identified with the Eagle of Scripture—The word Nesher and its signification—Geographical range of the Griffon—Its mode of flight and sociable habits—The featherless head and neck of the bird—The Vulture used as an image of strength, swiftness, and rapacity—Its powers of sight—How Vultures assemble round a carcass—Nesting-places of the Griffon—Mr. Tristram's description of the Griffon—Rock-caves of the Wady Hamâm—Care of the young, and teaching them to fly—Strength of the Griffon—Its emblematical use in Egypt and Assyria—The god Nisroch—Noble aspect of the Griffon—Its longevity—Various attitudes assumed by the bird.
WE now come to another word which will give us but little trouble in identification. This is the word Hesher, which is invariably translated in the Authorized Version of the Bible as Eagle, but which was undoubtedly a different bird, and has satisfactorily been identified with the GRIFFON VULTURE, or Great Vulture (Gyps fulvus). The reasons for this conclusion are so inextricably interwoven with the various passages in which the bird is mentioned, that I shall not give them separately, but simply allude to them in the course of the article.
In the first place, the name Nesher is derived, according to many Hebraists, from a word which signifies the power of sight, and is given to the bird in consequence of its piercing vision. The Talmudical writers mention a curious proverb concerning the sight of the Vulture, namely, that a Vulture in Babylon can see a carcass in Palestine. Other scholars derive it from a word which signifies its longevity, while others again believe that the true derivation is to be found in a word which signifies ripping up or tearing with the beak.
THE Griffon Vulture is found throughout a large portion of the Old World, inhabiting nearly all the warmer portions of this hemisphere. The color of the adult bird is a sort of yellowish brown, diversified by the black quill feathers and the ruff of white down that surrounds the neck. The head and neck are without feathers, but are sparingly covered with very short down of a similar character to that of the ruff.
It is really a large bird, being little short of five feet in total length, and the expense of wing measuring about eight feet.
The Griffon Vulture is very plentiful in Palestine, and, unlike the lesser though equally useful Egyptian Vulture, congregates together in great numbers, feeding, flying, and herding in company. Large flocks of them may be seen daily, soaring high in the air, and sweeping their graceful way in the Brand curves which distinguish the flight of the large birds of prey. They are best to be seen in the early morning, being in the habit of quitting their rocky homes at daybreak, and indulging in a flight for two or three hours, after which they mostly return to the rocks, and wait until evening, when they take another short flight before retiring to rest.
Allusion is made in the Scriptures to the gregarious habits of the Vultures: “Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together" (Matt. 24:2828For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. (Matthew 24:28)). That the Vulture, and not the eagle, is here signified, is evident from the fact that the eagles do not congregate like the Vultures, never being seen in greater numbers than two or three together, while the Vultures assemble in hundreds.
The featherless head of the Vulture is mentioned in the Book of Micah, chap. 1. ver. 16: “Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee."It is evident that in this passage reference is made, not to the eagle, whose head is thickly covered with feathers, but to the Vulture, whose head and neck are but scantily sprinkled with white down. Some commentators, not aware that the word nesher should have been rendered as" vulture," have explained the passage by saying that the prophet referred to the moulting-time of the eagle; but the reader Will see that such an explanation is at the best a forced one, whereas the reference to the bald head of the Vulture is both simple and natural.
“She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
“From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.
“Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.”
See also Hab. 1:6-86For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. 7They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 8Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. (Habakkuk 1:6‑8), in which the prophet speaks of the Chaldeans, “that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs.
“They are terrible and dreadful: ... and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.”
There is also a curious passage in the Book of Proverbs, chap. 30. ver. 17, which alludes to the carnivorous nature of the bird: "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.”
Allusion is made in several passages to the swiftness of the Vulture, as well as its voracity. See, for example, a portion of David's lamentation over the bodies of Saul and Jonathan, who, according to the poet's metaphor, "were lovely and pleasant their lives, and in their death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.”
The "bitter" people—namely, the Chaldeans—are again mentioned in a very similar manner by the prophet Jeremiah: “Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness " (Lam. 4:1919Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. (Lamentations 4:19)).
There is something peculiarly appropriate in employing the Vulture as an image of strength and swiftness when applied to warriors, the bird being an invariable attendant on the battle, and flying to the field of death with marvelous swiftness. All who had ever witnessed a battle were familiar with the presence of the Vulture—the scene of carnage, and the image which is employed, would be one which commended itself at once to those for whom it was intended. And, as the earlier history of the Jewish nation is essentially of a warlike character, we cannot wonder that so powerful and familiar an image should have been repeatedly introduced into the sacred writings.
The wonderful powers of sight possessed by this bird are mentioned in the passage from Job 39 which has already been quoted.
Here it may be as well to say that, piercing as is the vision of the Vulture, its visual powers have been much exaggerated. It certainly does possess a vision of no ordinary capacity, which is able to assume either a telescopic or a microscopic character, by means of a complex and marvelous structure, which can alter the whole shape of the organ at the will of the bird.
Not only can the eye be thus altered, but it changes instantaneously, so as to accommodate itself to the task which it is to perform. A Vulture, for example, sees from a vast height the body of a dead animal, and instantly swoops down upon it like an arrow from a bow. In order to enable the bird to see so distant an object, the eye has been exercising its telescopic powers, and yet, in a second or two, when the Vulture is close to its gray, the whole form of the eye must be changed, or the bird would mistake its distance, and dash itself to pieces on the ground.
To describe this beautiful piece of mechanism would be outside the scope of the present work; but the reader can find it in every good work on comparative anatomy, and is strongly advised to make himself master of the means by which a result so apparently impossible is secured.
By means of its powerful eyes, the Vulture can see to an enormous distance, and with great clearness, but neither so far nor so clearly as is popularly supposed. It is true that, as soon as a carcass is discovered, it will be covered with Vultures, who arrive from every side, looking at first like tiny specks in the air, scarcely perceptible even to practiced eyes, and all directing their (light to the same point. "Where the carcass is, there will the vultures be gathered together." But, although they all fly towards the same spot, it does not follow that they have all seen the same object. The fact is, they see and understand each other's movements.
A single Vulture, for example, sees a dead or dying sheep, and swoops down upon it. The other Vultures which are flying about in search of food, and from which the animal in question may be concealed, know perfectly well that a Vulture soars high in the air when searching for food, and only darts to the earth when it has found a suitable prey. They immediately follow its example, and in their turn are followed by other Vultures, which can see their fellows from a distance, and know perfectly well why they are all converging to one spot.
In this way all the Vultures of a neighborhood will understand, by a very intelligible telegraph, that a dead body of some animal has been found, and, aided by their wonderful powers of flight, will assemble over its body in an almost incredibly short space of time.
The resting-place of the Griffon Vulture is always on some lofty spot. The Arabian Vulture will build within easy reach, the eagle prefers lofty situations, but nothing but the highest and most inaccessible spots will satisfy the Vulture. To reach the nest of this bird is therefore a very difficult task, only to be attempted by experienced and intrepid cragsmen; and, in consequence, both the eggs and young of the Griffon Vulture cannot be obtained except for a very high price. The birds are fond of building in the rock-caves which are found in so many parts of Palestine, and in some places they fill these places as thickly as rooks fill a rookery.
The fondness of the Vulture for such localities is more than once mentioned in Holy Writ. One of these passages, which occurs in Job 39:2929From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. (Job 39:29), has already been quoted, and another, and equally forcible one, is to be found in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah: "Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle (nesher), I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord" (Jer. 49:1616Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 49:16)).
In Mr. Tristram's “Land of Israel," there is a very graphic description of the Griffon's nests, and of the difficulty experienced in reaching them. “A narrow gorge, with limestone cliffs from five hundred to six hundred feet high, into which the sun never penetrates, walls the rapid brook on each side so closely that we often had to ride in the bed of the stream. The cliffs are perforated with caves at all heights, wholly inaccessible to man, the secure resting-place of hundreds of noble griffons, some lämmergeiers, lanner falcons, and several species of eagle... One day in the ravine well repaid us, though so terrific were the precipices, that it was quite impossible to reach any of the nests with which it swarmed.
“We were more successful in the Wady Hamâm, the southwest end of the plain, the entrance from Hattin and the Buttauf, where we spent three days in exploration. The cliffs, though reaching the height of fifteen hundred feet, rise like terraces, with enormous masses of débris, and the wood is half a mile wide. By the aid of Giacomo, who proved himself an expert rope-climber, we reaped a good harvest of griffons' eggs, some of the party being let down by ropes, while those above were guided in working there by signals from others below in the valley. It required the aid of a party of a dozen to capture these nests. The idea of scaling the cliff with ropes was quite new to some Arabs who were herding cattle above, and who could not, excepting one little girl, be induced to render any assistance. She proved herself most sensible and efficient in telegraphing.
“While capturing the griffons' nests, we were re-enacting a celebrated siege in Jewish history. Close to us, at the head of the cliffs which form the limits of the celebrated. Plain of Hattin, were the ruins of Irbid, the ancient Arbela, marked principally by the remains of a synagogue, of which some marble shafts and fragments of entablature, like those of Tell Hûm, are still to be seen, and were afterward visited by us.
“The long series of chambers and galleries in the face of the precipice are called by the Arabs Kulat Ibn Maân, and are very fully described by Josephus. These cliffs were the homes of a set of bandits, who resided here with their families, and for years set the power of Herod the Great at defiance. At length, when all other attempts at scaling the fortress had failed, he let down soldiers at this very spot in boxes, by chains, who attacked the robbers with long hooks, and succeeded in rooting them all out. The exploit was familiar to us by an engraving of the Penny Magazine of old, and little did we dream that we should one day storm those very caves in a similar way ourselves. We could not but regret that Herod had neglected to leave his chains and grappling-irons for our use.
“The rock galleries, though now only tenanted by griffons, are very complete and perfect; and beautifully built. Long galleries wind backwards and forwards in the cliff side, their walls being built with dressed stone, flush with the precipice, and often opening into spacious chambers. Tier after tier rise one after another with projecting windows, connected by narrow staircases, carried sometimes upon arches, and in the upper portions rarely broken away. In many of the upper chambers to which we were let down, the dust of ages had accumulated, undisturbed by any foot save that of the birds of the air; and here we rested during the heat of the day, with the plains and Lake set as in a frame before us. We obtained a full zoological harvest, as in three days we captured fourteen nests of griffons.”
Although these caverns and rocky passages are much more accessible than most of the places whereon the Griffons build, the natives never venture to enter them, being deterred not so much by their height, as by their superstitious fears. The Griffons instinctively found out that man never entered these caverns, and so took possession of them.
As the young Griffons are brought up in these lofty and precipitous places, it is evident that their first flight must be a dangerous experiment, requiring the aid of the parent birds. At first the young are rather nervous at the task which lies before them, and shrink from trusting themselves to the air. The parents, however, encourage them to use their wings, Lake short flights in order to set them an example, and, when they at last venture from the nest, accompany and encourage them in their first journey.
Even this habit has been noted by the sacred writers, and been forcibly employed as an image of divine protection. See the Song of Moses, in which the aged leader, whose forty years' work was at last finished, recapitulates the mercies vouchsafed to the people of Israel, and exhorts them against the sin of ingratitude: “For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.
“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste bowling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
“As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings;" So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him " (Deut. 32:9-129For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: 12So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. (Deuteronomy 32:9‑12)).
The strength of flight of the Vulture is also noticed by the sacred writers. See, for example, Ex. 19:44Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:4): “Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' (nesherim) wings, and brought you unto myself.”
This passage had a peculiar force when addressed to the Hebrews, the Vulture being one of the Chief emblems of Egyptian power, and its outspread wings continually recurring on the grand monuments and temples with which they must have been so familiar.
Strangely enough, in their second captivity, the Jews met with the same emblem among the Assyrians. For example, their god Nisroch, whom we find mentioned as specially worshipped by Sennacherib, was a vulture-headed deity, bearing not only the head of the bird, but also its wings. The vast wings of the Vulture were by the Assyrians used as types of Divine power, and were therefore added, not only to human figures, but to those of beasts. The human-headed and vulture-winged bulls of Nineveh, with which we are now so familiar, are good examples of this peculiar imagery.
The name Nisroch, by the way, is evidently the same word as nesher, and bears even closer resemblance to the Arabic niss'r. This bird was also the war standard of Assyria, just as the eagle is that of France, and the metaphors used by Habbakuk and Jeremiah had therefore a doubly forcible sense.
We find the same bird employed as a visible emblem of Divine omnipresence and omniscience in the visions seen by Ezekiel and John: “And every one had four faces; the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle " (Ezek. 10:1414And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. (Ezekiel 10:14)). Then, in the Revelation, chap. 4. ver. 6, 7, is the account of a vision of very similar character: "In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
“And the first beast was like a lion, and the second was like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.”
From these passages we shall see that the Griffon Vulture was not held by the Scriptural writers in the contempt with which we are apt to regard it. Not having any Vultures resident in our country, for the simple reason that there is not enough carrion in the whole of England to feed a single Vulture for a month, we have no practical knowledge of them, and are apt to confound, under the common title of Vulture, birds of most dissimilar aspect. Some of them, especially those which inhabit the West Indies, are mean-looking, slouching, sneaking, obscene birds, which, even when brought to this country; and" nourished on fresh meat, cannot be regarded without inspiring a feeling of disgust.
But there are others which are really grand and noble birds, which excite admiration instead of disgust, and one of the chief among these is the Griffon Vulture. Scavenger though it be, it is not disgusting in its habits, and may even be called a cleanly bird. It is intelligent, after its way, and is quite as susceptible of human teaching as the falcon or the cormorant. It is not quarrelsome, and, even when feeding, does not try to drive away its neighbor, but feeds alongside of him with perfect amity and quiet.
In common with other birds of its order, the Griffon Vulture is a very long-lived bird, and even this characteristic is noticed in the well-known passage, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psa. 103:1, 51<<A Psalm of David.>> Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. (Psalm 103:1)
5Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm 103:5)).
This passage has often been absurdly misinterpreted by commentators who have not appreciated the metaphorical style of all Oriental poetry. Taking the passage in its exact literal sense, and not knowing that reference is made to the Vulture and not to the eagle, they have taken for granted that the eagle had some mode of renewing its youth, and, in fact, after becoming old, went through some process by which it shook off the decrepitude of old age, and became young again. Others, seeing that such an interpretation was both strained and far-fetched, have thought that reference was made to the annual molt of the eagle, which they fancied to be of a very severe character, the whole of the feathers being shed at once, so as to leave the bird naked and helpless, and then being restored with added strength and beauty.
It is evident, however, that no such interpretation is needed, and that the Psalmist, when using the expression "renewing the youth like an eagle's," only employed a metaphorical expression significative of longevity.
If we recapitulate the various passages in which the Nesher is mentioned in the Scriptures, we shall find that the sacred writers were thoroughly acquainted with the bird, and that they wrote of it with an occasional fullness and an invariable precision which shows how familiar they were with a bird at once so plentiful and so conspicuous.
The illustration represents one of the rocky Borges so plentiful in Palestine, inhabited by a number of Griffon Vultures. Some of them are feeding upon the carcass of a dead animal, another is upon her nest, and several Vultures, who have gorged themselves with food after their fashion, are sitting listlessly on the rock, in some of the singular positions which this bird affects. There is, perhaps, no bird which has a more curious set of attitudes than the Griffon Vulture, or which exhibits so different an aspect at various times.
In flight it is one of the most magnificent birds that can be seen, and oven when perched it often retains a certain look of majesty and grandeur. Sometimes, however, especially when basking in the sun, it assumes a series of attitudes which are absolutely grotesque, and convert the noble-looking bird into a positively ludicrous object. At one moment it will sit all hunched up, its head sunk between its shoulders, and one wing trailing behind it as if broken.
At another it will bend its legs and sit down on the ankle-joint, pushing its feet out in front, and supporting itself by the stiff feathers of its tail. Often it will nearly flat on the ground, partly spread its wings, and allow their tips to rest on the earth, and sometimes it will support near]y all the weight of its body on the wings, which rest, in a half doubled state, on the ground. I have before me a great number of sketches, taken in a single day, of the attitudes assumed by one of these birds, every one of which is strikingly different from the others, and transforms the whole shape of the Bird so much that it is scarcely recognizable as the same individual.