HAWK

HAWK, bird of prey. Two genera of hawk are found in Israel, the Accipiter and the Falco, these being referred to respectively in the Bible as neẓ (AV, JPS = hawk) and taḥmas (AV, JPS = "nighthawk"), mentioned among the unclean birds that are prohibited as food (Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15). The neẓ is generally identified with the sparrow hawk (Accipiter nisus), which nests on trees in various places in Israel, pounces in flight on its victims, particularly small birds, and is recognizable by its bright abdomen streaked with dark lateral stripes. It winters in Israel and some migrate to southern lands, as mentioned in Job (39:26). The Pentateuch refers to "the neẓ after its kinds." In Israel there are two other transmigratory species that belong to this genus. But the expression neẓ may also include other genera of birds of prey. Thus, for example, the aggadah says that Israel is like a dove which the neẓ seeks to devour (Song R. 2:14, no. 2), the reference here being to a bird of prey larger than the hawk, such as the buzzard which preys upon doves (the Accipiter hunts only small birds: see Ḥul. 3:1) or the saker falcon (Falco cherrug) which in certain countries is trained to pursue birds and animals. Of the genus Falco there are several species in Israel, the most common being the non-migratory kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) which preys upon birds and field mice and is apparently the biblical taḥmas, a word meaning "robber, bandit." -BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Smolly, Ẓipporim be-Yisrael (19592), 85; R. Meinertzhagen, Birds of Arabia (1954), 366ff.; J. Feliks, Animal World of the Bible (1962), 64f. ADD BIBLIOGRAPHY: Feliks, Ha-Ẓome'aḥ, 255. (Jehuda Feliks)