The mole and the bat are reckoned among the unclean animals forbidden to the Jews by their Divine lawgiver. The latter is distinctly included under the following description: "Every creeping thing that flieth shall be unclean to you; they shall not be eaten." The legs of the bat appear to be absolutely different from those of all other animals, and indeed they are directed, and even formed in a very particular manner. In order to advance, he raises both his front-legs at once, and places them at a small distance forward; at the same time the thumb of each foot points outward, and the creature catches with the claw at any thing which it can lay hold of; then he stretches behind him his two hind-legs, so that the five toes of each foot are also directed backward; he supports himself on the sole of this foot, and secures himself by means of the claws on his toes; then he raises his body on the front-legs, and throws himself forward by folding the upper arm on the fore-arm, which motion is assisted by the extension of the hind-legs, which also push the body forward This gait, though heavy, because the body falls to the ground at every step, is yet sometimes pretty quick, when the feet can readily meet with good holding-places; but when the claw of the front foot meets with any thing loose, the exertion is inefficient.[199] SECTION IV.--BIRDS. In the writings of Moses, the winged tribes are divided into three classes, according as they occupy the air, the land, or the water. BIRDS OF THE AIR. English Translation. Probable Species. Eagle Eagle. Ossifrage Vulture. Ospray Black Eagle. Vulture Hawk. Kite Kite. Raven Raven. LAND BIRDS. Owl Ostrich. Night-hawk Night-owl. Cuckoo Suf-saf. Hawk Ancient Ibis. WATER BIRDS. Little Owl Sea-gull. Cormorant Cormorant. Great Owl Ibis Ardea. Swan Wild Goose. Pelican Pelican. Gier Eagle Alcyone. Stork Stork. Heron Long-neck. Lapwing Hoopoe. These are the unclean birds, according to the Mosaical arrangement and the views of the English translators. But it must not be concealed, that the attainments of the latter in ornithology were not particularly accurate; and, as a proof of this; we may mention a fact obvious to the youngest student of Oriental languages, that the same Hebrew words in Leviticus and Deuteronomy are not always rendered by the same term in our tongue. For example, the vulture of the former book is in the latter called the glede; and there are many similar variations, in different parts of the Old Testament, in regard to the others.