1975 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 109

of refractoriness, or else the refractory period is very short. In nature, presumably enough young are raised in months outside the ‘normal’ breeding season and survive to breed, so that selection has not eliminated breeding at these less successful times of the year.

The Moorhen typically inhabits permanent and temporary marshes over a very wide distributional range. Marshes tend to be most productive habitats (Odum 1971), but in many regions their productivity is liable to temporally erratic fluctuations, especially in relation to rainfall. I n the Moorhen, selection appears to have favoured adaptations facilitating rapid, repeated breeding in response to favourable conditions for as long as these last in an unstable habitat. Since selection appears to be favouring r (increase in the reproductive rate) rather than K (increase in number, and competitive ability, of indiv- iduals for densities near the carrying capacity of a relatively stable habitat), we would predict the Moorhen (and possibly other Rallidae with similar reproductive strategies) to be a dispersive species. The relatively high frequency at which this species and other Rallidae occur on islands, either as colonizers or vagrants, together with their well known propensity for widespread dispersal over mainland areas, suggests that this prediction is true.

from the University of Cape Town’s Staff Research Fund. We are grateful to Dr R. H. Drent for his helpful advice. The work was supported by a grant

REFERENCES

DRENT, R. H. 1970. Functional aspects of incubation in the Herring Guil. Behaviour Suppl. 17:

DRENT, R. H. 1972. Adaptive aspects of the physiology of incubation. Proc. 15 int. orn. Congr.

DRENT, R. H. 1973. The natural history of incubation. In D. S. Farner (Ed.), Breeding biology of

HOWARD, H. E. 1940. A Waterhen’s worlds. Cambridge University Press. IMMELMA”, K. 1971. Ecological aspects of periodic reproduction. In D. S. Farner & J. R. King

KENDEIGH, S. C. 1963. Thermodynamics of incubation in the House Wren, TrogZodytes aedun.

KENDEIGH, S. C. 1970. Energy requirements for existence in relation to size of bird. Condor 72:

KENDEIGH, S. C. 1973. Discussion on the natural history of incubation. In D. S. Farner (ed.),

MCLACHLAN, G. R. & LIVERSIDGE, R. 1970. Roberts birds of South Africa. Cape Town: CNA. ODUM, E. P. 1971. Fundamentals of ecology. Philadelphia: Saunders. SIEGFRIED, W. R. & FROST, P. G. H. In press. Egg temperature and incubation behaviour of the

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birds. Washington D.C. : National Academy of Sciences.

(Eds.), Avian biology 1. Academic Press.

Proc. 13 int. orn. Congr. (1962): 884-904.

60-65.

Breeding biology of birds. Washington D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.

Ostrich. Madoqua.

Province. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 53: 1-276.

of British birds. London: Witherby.

WINTERBOTTOM, J. M. 1968. A check list of the land and fresh water birds of the western Cape

WITHERBY, H. F., JOURDAIN, F. C. R., TICEHURST, N. F. & TUCKER, B. W. 1938-41. The handbook

Percy FitzPatrick Institute,

Rondebosch, Cape South Africa

University of Cape Town,

13 November 1973

W. ROY SIEGFRIED PETER G. H. FROST

EARLY RECORDS OF THE DOMESTIC FOWL IN ANCIENT JUDEA

It has been claimed that the domestic fowl first reached Palestine in the second century B.C. (Wood-Gush 1959, Pinney 1964). This interpretation is consistent with the lack of mention of cocks or hens in any part of the Old Testament. Archaeological evidence, however, has indicated that the fowl was known to the inhabitants of ancient Judea at least half a millennium earlier (Taran 1973).

110 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS IBIS 117

In excavation at Gibeon (near Jerusalem), dating back to the seventh century B.c., potsherds were found incised with figures of cocks and hens (Pritchard 1969). The birds- some of them placed within the significant six-pointed star of the Magen David-are of an indeterminate type. It is possible that the double spur of the cock in one figure reveals the intention of the artist to emphasize its fighting abilities.

Also near Jerusalem, several seals have been found which bear the images of fowls. Two such seals show fighting cocks in a position of attack. They are similar in form, but mirror images of one another; on one, the seal of Yaazanjahu, ‘the Servant of the King’, the cock is facing left (Bad4 1933), and on the other, that of Yaachazjahu, ‘the Son of the King’, the cock is facing right (Avigad 1969: pls 2, 21). Both are of the same epoch, just preceding, or even during the time of the destruction of the First Temple (587 B.c.). Two other seals are in a different style. A seal of Zacher (son) of Hoshea, of thesameepoch or from an even earlier date, shows a cock, seemingly of the fighting type, caught by a noose (Diringer 1934: pl. 20, lb). A seal of Sitra (Torrey 1923 : lob, fig. 4) of the Persian period ( 5 - 4 century B.c.), seems to show a sitting hen, spreading her wings in a state of attack on a predator, protecting her chicks, one of which has crept out from under her wings.

I presume that the cocks of ancient Judea, during the time of the First Temple and a few centuries afterwards, were all, or at least mostly, of the fighting type. The fact that the egg as a food is nowhere mentioned in all the Old Testament lends weight to this supposition. In fact, Judea was in an area where fighting birds were much preferred as late as the first century A.D. Aldrovandi (1600: 30-31) quoted Varro, Pliny and Collumela, who praised several breeds of chickens for their pugnacious temper, among them the Median (Perse), the Rhodian (Rhodes) and Alexandrian (Egypt). The Talmud (Yevamot. 84b.) quoting Rabi Yehuda Hanasi (second century A.D.), mentions a breed or variety of fowls, named Beit Bokyo, known for their dangerous fighting cocks.

I wish to thank Dr G. A. Clayton for his valuable suggestions, interest and help in publishing this note.

REFERENCES ALDROVANDI, U. 1600. The ornithology of Ulisse Aldrovandi 2, Book 14. Translated by L. R. Lind,

1963. Oklahoma University Press. AVIGAD, I. 1969. Collection Eretz-Israel. BAD& W. F. 1933. The seal of Jaazanjahu. Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 51:

150-156. DIRINGER, S. 1934. Inscrizioni-antico-abraico Palestinezi. Firence. PINNEY, R. 1964. The animals of the Bible. Philadelphia. PRITCHARD, Y. B. 1967. The water system of Gibeon. Philadelphia University Press. TARAN, M. 1973. The chicken in ancient Eretz Israel. Meshek Haofot 9: 580-583. TORREY, C. 1923. Annual of the American School of Oriental Research 2. WOOD-GUSH, D. G. M. 1959. A history of the domestic chicken from antiquity to the’19th century.

Poult. Sci. 38: 321-326.

Haifa, 29, Hankin Road Israel 21 December 1973

MIKHAEL TARAN

fluME’S TAWNY OWL STRIX BUTLERI IN THE JUDEAN, NEGEV A N D SINAI DESERTS

Hume’s Tawny owl Strh buthi has been found on the coast of Baluchistan, in Saudi Arabia and from Syria to Sinai in the Middle East (Vaurie 1965), but few specimens exist in collections and it has been considered very rare (Meinertzhagen 1930, EtchCcopar & Hue 1964, Ali & Ripley 1969). Accordingly it seems worthwhile to report on the status of this bird in the Judean, Negev and Sinai deserts.