Owl.
In the passages that speak of the unclean birds "the owl . . . . the little owl . . . . and the great owl," are enumerated. Leviticus 11:16, Leviticus 1:11; Deuteronomy 14:15, Deuteronomy 1:14. The Hebrew for the first is bath yaanah. (See OSTRICH.) The second is kos: it occurs in the above two passages and in Psalms 102:6; and doubtless refers to the owl. The third, yanshuph, occurs also in Isaiah 34:11. This in the LXX and Vulgate is the 'ibis,' and has been supposed by some to refer to the Ibis religiosa, a sacred bird of Egypt. There is also lilith in Isaiah 34:14 only, translated 'screech owl,' (margin and R.V. 'night-monster'): its reference is doubtful. Also qippoz in Isaiah 34:15 only, 'great owl,' (R.V. 'arrowsnake;' LXX and Vulgate 'hedgehog,' reading perhaps qippod with six Hebrew MSS.) There are several well-known species of the owl, but to which of them these various words refer cannot be specified with certainty. The Athene meridionalis is the owl most common in Palestine; the Strix flammea is the white owl.