CRANE (סוּס֒, H6061, [KJV]; עָגוּר, H6315, [RSV]). These two Heb. words are each found twice (Isa 38:14; Jer 8:7), tr. “crane” and “swallow” but reversed in the two VSS. A likely explanation of this is that the two were transposed by error in an early MS, and although there is no firm evidence to support this, ’āg̱ūr is now usually tr. “crane.” It is not surprising to find the crane included in the KJV, for up to the 17th cent. it bred in Britain and continued for some time to be a regular winter visitor. Driver claims that āgūr is the wryneck, but this is an uncommon migrant, the size of a sparrow and hard to see, so it is unlikely to be named. He points out that Arab. sis is the same as Heb. sus and means “swift,” from its twittering call; he argues that the migratory habit of the swift confirms this identification (Jer 8:7) rather than “swallow,” which is the more general opinion. This argument is not valid, for four of the six species of swallow and martins are migrants, and one of the three swifts is resident. There is little reason to tr. Heb. sus “crane.” Two cranes pass through Pal. or nest there. The common crane, now a rare visitor to Britain but still nesting in N Europe, is nearly four ft. long, and the demoiselle crane is rather smaller.

Like storks they fly with head out straight and legs trailing behind. When they were more common, cranes were considered good to eat and were not forbidden to the Israelites.

Bibliography See Bird Migration. G. R. Driver, “Birds in the OT: II Birds in Life” PEQ (1955), 129-140.