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OWL
1. bath ya‘ânâh, RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘ostrich’ (wh. see).
2. yanshûph, Lev_11:17, Deu_14:15, ‘great owl’; [yanshöph], Isa_34:11 owl,’ RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘bittern’; commonly thought to be the ibis.
3. kôs, Lev_11:17, Deu_14:16, ‘little owl’; Psa_102:6 ‘owl.’
4. qippôz, Isa_34:15, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘great owl,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘arrowsnake.’ The description’ make her nest, and lay, and hatch’ certainly seems to point to some bird, but what kind is uncertain
5. tinshemeth, Lev_11:18, Deu_14:15, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘swan,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘horned owl.’ See Swan.
6. lîlîth, Isa_34:14, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘screech owl,’ AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘night monster,’ RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘Lilith,’ the fabulous monster which is in Jewish folklore such an enemy of children.
Owls are very plentiful in Palestine. Most common of all is the little bömeh (Athene glaux), whose melancholy cry can be heard anywhere in the open country when twilight begins. It is a general favourite and very tame. The great Egyptian eagle-owl, the next most common species, is a large bird, nearly two feet long, with long ear tufts (see No. 5). It haunts ruins, and has a prolonged and desolate cry.
E. W. G. Masterman.