SWAN (Jewish Encyclopedia)
From BibleWiki
The rendering of the Authorized Version for "tinshemet" (Lev. xi. 18; Deut. xiv. 16). The Revised Version, more correctly, gives "horned owl" (see Lizard; Mole; Owl).
Two species of swan have been found in Palestine, the whooper, or wild swan (Cygnus musicus, or ferus), and the Cygnus olor, or mansuetus; they are, however, comparatively rare.
Some take the "barburim abusim" of the Talmud (B. M. 86b) to mean "swans," though the usual rendering is "fattened hens."
Bibliography: Tristram, Nat. Hist. p. 249; Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, p. 194.
This entry includes text from the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906.
