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Bible Dictionaries
Partridge
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or kore' . 1 Samuel 26:20, "a partridge in the mountains." Jeremiah 17:11, "the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not" ("sitteth on eggs which it has not laid," Henderson), typifying the profitlessness of unlawful gain (Psalms 39:6; Psalms 49:16-17; Psalms 55:23) in the end. Breeding in the desert mountain regions it makes its rude nest, a hole scratched in the earth and lined with dried leaves, and deposits 15 eggs. Like many of the rasorial birds they lay in one another's nests, and a different bird hatches from the bird who laid the eggs.
This is Jeremiah's reference, or rather to its nest being on the ground, liable to be trodden under foot or robbed by carnivorous animals, notwithstanding all the beautiful maneuvers of the parent bird to save the brood. Jehoiakim's covetous grasping acts are here glanced at. Κore') is from Hebrew "call," referring to the call of the cock bird, as German rebhuhn is from rufen "to call." Κore') imitates the call note of the Caccabis saxatilis , "Greek partridge," which frequents rocky, brushwood covered, ground. The Αmmopedix Ηeyii is the partridge of the mountains, often hunted from place to place, until being fatigued it is knocked down by the sticks, zerwattys, of the Arabs (Shaw Tray. 1:425); familiar to David in his camping near Adullam cave, and less apt to take wing than the Caccabis saxatilis . So Saul sought, by surprising David in his haunts from time to time, at last to destroy him.
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Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Partridge'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/p/partridge.html. 1949.
