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Coney

Cony, in the original Shaphan, occurs in;;; . Commentators in general now conclude, on the most satisfactory grounds, that those versions which give Cony for the Hebrew Shaphan are incorrect. The Shaphan in scientific zoology is one of the small genus Hyrax, distinguished by the specific name of Syrian. Externally it is somewhat of the size, form, and brownish color of a rabbit, and, though it has short round ears, sufficiently like for inexact observers to mistake the one for the other. Navigators and colonists often carry the local names of their native land to other countries, and bestow them upon new objects with little propriety: this seems to have been done in the instance before us, there being reason to believe that the Phoenicians on visiting the western shores of the European side of the Mediterranean, found the country, as other authorities likewise assert, infested with rabbits or conies, and that without attending to the difference they bestowed upon them the Hebrew or Phoenician name of Shaphan.

Fig. 134—Hyrax Syriacus

The hyrax is of clumsier structure than the rabbit, without tail, having long, bristly hairs scattered through the general fur; the feet are naked below, and all the nails are flat and rounded, save those on each inner toe of the hind feet, which are long and awl-shaped; therefore the species cannot dig, and is by nature intended to reside, not, like rabbits, in burrows, but in the clefts of rocks. This character is correctly applied to the Shaphan by David.

Their timid gregarious habits, and the tenderness of their paws, make them truly 'the wise and feeble folk' of Solomon; for the genus lives in colonies in the crevices of stony places in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, Eastern Egypt, Abyssinia, and even at the Cape of Good Hope, where one or two additional species exist. In every locality they are quiet, gentle creatures, loving to bask in the sun, never stirring far from their retreats, moving with caution, and shrinking from the shadow of a passing bird, for they are offen the prey of eagles and hawks; their habits are strictly diurnal, and they feed on vegetables and seeds.