SPECKLED BIRD (עַ֨יִט צָב֤וּעַ, meaning uncertain). Jeremiah 12:9: “Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird” (KJV); “taloned bird” (KJV mg.); “speckled bird of prey” (RSV). Found only in this fig. passage, this word has long been in dispute. Bodenheimer (IDB) considers this to be a bird of prey. Driver (PEQ [1955] p. 139) argues from the Heb. and its Arab. derivatives that this is properly tr. “striped hyena” (q.v.). This is still a well-known scavenger in parts of Pal.