Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
[Sparrow]
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
BIRDS are mentioned as articles of food in Deut 14:11, and lists of birds not to be eaten are given. Lev 11:13-19; Deut 14:12-19. In general, the ravenous kinds feeding on flesh are forbidden. From Job 6:6; Luke 11:12 we learn that the eggs of birds were also eaten. In the cleansing of the leper birds were used in a peculiar way. Lev 14:4-7. There was a humane law in the Jewish code which forbade the taking a