Kite
KITE
KITE (Heb. ?????? da'ah, ??????? dayyah; av, vulture; jps "kite"), a bird of prey of the genus Milvus, of which two species inhabit Israel: the M. milvus which in limited numbers winters in the country, and the dark brown M. migrans which is indigenous to Israel. The kite is found in various places in the country, in particular near refuse: it feeds on carcasses, and preys on mice and even hares. The Pentateuch enumerates among the birds prohibited as food the da'ah, dayyah, ra'ah, and ayyah (Lev. 11:14; Deut. 14:13). On these the Talmud quotes two opinions, the one that all four are synonyms for a single genus of birds, the other that the first two are identical (?ul. 63b). The name dayyah or da'ah refers to the gliding flight of the kite as it searches for prey or a carcass. The Talmud speaks of a dayyah that snatched meat from the market or from a person's hands (bm 24b; tj, Shek. 7:3, 50c). The presence of flocks of kites where there are corpses and refuse is mentioned by Isaiah (34:15).
bibliography:
Lewysohn, Zool, 167f., no. 196; J. Feliks, The Animal World of the Bible (1962), 67.
[Jehuda Feliks]