Bible Dictionary
SEA-MEW
The sea-mew is the sea-gull, a bird found along the Mediterranean coast and around the Sea of Galilee. It is identified by some modern translations with the bird listed among the forbidden birds in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
Definition
The sea-mew is the sea-gull. It is a slender bird found along the Mediterranean coast and around the Sea of Galilee. Modern translators use “sea-gull” in place of the older “cuckoo” in the relevant lists of birds.
Biblical Usage
The sea-mew is identified as the bird listed among the abominations in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The identification is considered probable, though the underlying description presents some difficulty.
Historical Background
Gulls commonly inhabit the Mediterranean coast and the Sea of Galilee. They eat fish and carrion. Their nervous, powerful flight and association with carrion contributed to their inclusion in the lists of forbidden birds.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>se'-mu (shachaph; laros; Latin, Larus canus): The sea-gull. Used by modern translators in the list of abominations in the place of the cuckoo (Le 11:16; De 14:15). It is very probable that the sea-gull comes closer to the bird intended than the CUCKOO (which see). The sea-gull is a "slender" bird, but not "lean" as the root shachaph implies. However, with its stretch of wing and restless flight it gives this impression. Gulls are common all along the Mediterranean coast and around the Sea of Galilee. They are thought to have more intelligence than the average bird, and to share with some eagles, hawks, vultures and the raven the knowledge that if they find mollusk they cannot break they can carry it aloft and drop it on the rocks. Only a wise bird learns this. Most feathered creatures pick at an unyielding surface a few times and then seek food elsewhere. There are two reasons why these birds went on the abomination lists. To a steady diet of fish they add carrion. Then they are birds of such nervous energy, so exhaustless in flight, so daring in flying directly into the face of fierce winds, that the Moslems believed them to be tenanted with the souls of the damned. Moses was reared and educated among the Egyptians, and the laws he formulated often are tinged by traces of his early life. History fails to record any instance of a man reared in Egypt who permitted the killing of a gull, ibis, or hoopoe.</p><p>Gene Stratton-Porter</p>