78 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
parasites. As mention is made of the little shepherd bird, so 
we may expect that a greater shepherd bird was also known 
to the Assyrians, and this is what we actually do find. In 
the same tablet we meet with a bird which in Accadian is 
designated as the " shepherd " by the single name of SIB, 
and this bird is recognized in its pastoral character under the 
name of rihu (*^yy<| ^^>^- S^ff*:) by the Assyrians, rihu 
meaning "a shepherd," and answering exactly to the Hebrew 
word roeh (^ip), from the root J"CH "to feed a flock." What 
is this shepherd bird ? If I am right in the identification of 
the little shepherd bird, I must not refer this one to the 
beautiful rose-coloured pastor (Pastor roseus), because I want 
a bird larger, more or less, than the starling, the SIB TUR, or 
"little shepherd," and the rose pastor and the starling are 
about the same size, i.e., about 8 J inches long. What kind 
of wild bird in England do we consider to be perhaps the 
most agricultural? I think we shall say the rook (Corvus 
frngilegus), the bird of pasture and arable land frequently 
associating with its smaller cousins the starlings in company 
with sheep and cattle, or following the ploughman for the 
sake of the worms or other food turned up by his labours. 
Ainsworth mentions rooks as occurring commonly in Meso- 
potamia, though they do not seem to be common in Persia, 
Mr. Blandford and Major St. John not having met with these 
birds in Southern Persia. Rooks are common in Palestine, 
and were probably well known to the inhabitants of Syria, 
Armenia, and the northern parts of Mesopotamia. I think 
that the rook is the bird intended, as represented on the 
monuments near inhabited buildings, having its nest and 
young ones on trees, as I have already suggested. The 
Pastor roseus, or " locust bird," is also eminently an agricultural 
species, being frequently seen associating like the common 
starling with cattle and sheep ; hence its name of pastor, 
or the " shepherd." It is curious to think that the generic 
name of Pastor, first proposed by the French naturalist 
M. Temmink for certain birds which exhibit various rela- 
tions to starlings and crows, for the reason just mentioned, 
should have been, ages long ago, anticipated by the inha- 
bitants of Chaldea and Assyria. 
