82 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
the Royston crow (Corvus comix). This is the Asiatic repre- 
sentative of the common black crow, Corvus corone, popularly 
known among the peasantry of this country as the " carrion 
crow." Though formerly specifically considered distinct, 
these two birds evidently belong to the same species. They 
breed freely together in such localities where the two 
varieties meet. They are similar in form and habits, and 
differ only in respect of colour. The black variety common 
in various parts of this country does not appear to occur in 
Palestine or Mesopotamia, where it is replaced by the hooded 
crow, the variety not so generally known in this country on 
account of its local habits. This is the common crow 
of Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia. The grey 
feathers of the back and under surface of the body of the 
hooded crow, Major St. John tells us, have in Persia some- 
times quite a roseate flush. 
(22.) Of the ur-bal-luv or tas-bal-luv, kha-akh, or its-tsur 
sdmu, I cannot speak at all definitely. The name its-tsur 
Sa-mi points apparently to some bluish-brown cawing bird, 
and this is all that can be said. 
(23.) The jackdaw (Corvus moneduld) is supposed by 
Dr. Delitzsch to be the bird spoken of in the Assyrian lists as 
the "occupier of graves" or "graveyards." It is called 
casid cab-ruv or casid ca-bar-ti ^|JJ ? \ A **f~ 
A somewhat similar name of a bird occurs in the Talmud as 
the bath cibrayya (PfJ^Jj? i"£L), " daughter of sepulchres," 
which Buxtorf (Lex. p. 1963) explains as "the name of a 
bird, said to adorn itself with other birds' feathers, like the 
jackdaw" (gracculus). L ewys ohn (Zool. des Talmud 's, p. 175) 
quotes a writer (Sachs) who identifies a bird called kibrin 
with the " screech owl " as a " grave bird." In this country 
the jackdaw is often seen in the vicinity of churches and 
churchyards, building its nest in belfries and such like places. 
Ainsworth says that there is a small owl, " a dignified little 
fellow," which passes the day on the top of a tombstone in 
cemeteries, where it finds plenty of food at night, and, being 
regarded as a sacred bird, is never disturbed in its serenity." 
It is, therefore, quite possible that this little owl, and not the 
