Tinshemeth
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature [1]
Fig. 332—Porphyrion
Tinshemeth (Swan,; ). There is good reason to believe that this is not the true meaning of the word thus rendered in our common version, for the swan is not a bird which, in migrating to the south, even during the coldest seasons, appears to proceed further than France or Spain, though no doubt individuals may be blown onwards in hard gales to the African shore. In all probability the bird referred to is the porphyrion or purple gallinula. The porphyrion is superior in bulk to our water-hen or gallinula, has a hard crimson shield on the forehead, and flesh-colored legs; the head, neck, and sides are of a beautiful turquoise blue, the upper and back parts of a dark but brilliant indigo.
The porphyrion is a remarkable bird, abounding in the southern and eastern parts of Europe and Western Asia, feeding itself standing on one leg, and holding its food in the claws of the other. It was anciently kept tame in the precincts of pagan temples, and therefore perhaps was marked unclean, as most, if not all, the sacred animals of the heathens were.
