HERON (אֲנָפָ֖ה. heron, all Eng. VSS; Lev 11:19, Deut 14:18 only).

This Heb. word has always been in dispute, and philologists can only suggest that the root may describe a bird with a beak shaped like a nose. Driver notes that in the Targum Ps. Jon, the first v., it is described as a black hawk; in the second v., a white hawk. He tr. “cormorant,” whereas LXX gives it the Lat. name Charadrius, making a plover genus. On the other hand, it would not be surprising if herons were listed. A dozen kinds live in or pass through Pal., some of them conspicuous and in numbers; some of the species are palatable when young but their habits would class them as unclean. The most common are the gray, purple, and night herons, and the little and cattle egrets. These may all be seen at close quarters in spring in the bird sanctuaries on the Israeli coast and in the upper Jordan valley.