Partridge: (Heb. kore, i.e., "caller"). This bird, unlike our own partridge, is
distinguished by "its ringing call-note, which in early morning
echoes from cliff to cliff amidst the barrenness of the wilderness of
Judea and the glens of the forest of Carmel" hence its Hebrew name.
This name occurs only twice in Scripture. In
(1 Samuel 26:20) "David
alludes to the mode of chase practised now, as of old, when the
partridge, continuously chased, was at length, when fatigued, knocked
down by sticks thrown along the ground." It endeavours to save itself
"by running, in preference to flight, unless when suddenly started.
It is not an inhabitant of the plain or the corn-field, but of rocky
hill-sides" (Tristram's Nat. Hist.). In
(Jeremiah 17:11) the prophet is
illustrating the fact that riches unlawfully acquired are precarious
and short-lived. The exact nature of the illustration cannot be
precisely determined. Some interpret the words as meaning that the
covetous man will be as surely disappointed as the partridge which
gathers in eggs, not of her own laying, and is unable to hatch them;
others (Tristram), with more probability, as denoting that the man
who enriches himself by unjust means "will as surely be disappointed
as the partridge which commences to sit, but is speedily robbed of
her hopes of a brood" by her eggs being stolen away from her. The
commonest partridge in Palestine is the Caccabis saxatilis, the Greek
partridge. The partridge of the wilderness (Ammo-perdix heyi) is a
smaller species. Both are essentially mountain and rock birds, thus
differing from the English partridge, which loves cultivated fields.
