The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 85 
few feet in the air — which everybody must have noticed — 
before finally alighting on the ground. 1 
(28.) The turtle dove is clearly pointed out. It is the 
tar-ru (>^r ^JTT) or ca-ca-ba-a-nu of the Assyrian column; 
and the IGI MUX. of the Accadian. Tarru is clearly the Hebrew 
tur (Tlfi), the Latin turtur, and our English turtle dove. 
The name of tur is also evidently imitative of the soft coo 
of the turtle dove. The Accadian name of " eye-star " 
or "eye bright" is expressive of the bright, soft eyes 
of this lovely little dove ; in the Canticles the eyes of 
the beloved, it will be remembered, are compared with 
those of the turtle dove, and I dare say that Oriental poetry 
is full of such expressions. The Assyrian name caccabanu, 
" star-bird," c/. "a star," Arab. "a star," "to 
twinkle like a star," corresponds with the Accadian. The 
turtle dove {Turtur auritus) is common in Mesopotamia, Persia, 
and Palestine, and the T. risorius, another species, occurs 
in some of these countries. 
(29.) Partridges are common in Mesopotamia and the 
neighbouring countries. The commonest species in Persia 
by far is the Caccabis chukar. It is a red-legged species, 
and specifically distinct from the Caccabis grwca or saxa- 
tilis ; the common partridge, Perdix cinerea, is not found 
in Mesopotamia. In Assyrian the partridge is called the 
cu-lu-cu-cu, the cilippu, and the ku-ku-ul-luv ; this latter 
name is probably identical with the Arabic kaukal ^Jjy^> 
which Freytag explains as the male partridge, and also the 
bird called hatha, i.e., one of the sand grouse ( Pterocles), which 
occur in amazing numbers in certain localities. Another bird 
belonging to the partridge family, the Francolinus vulgaris, 
or common francolin, is very common in Mesopotamia and 
Persia, and must have been known to the Assyrians. It is 
found in great numbers in the tamarisk jungles and reed beds 
of Mesopotamia, and doubtless would be included among the 
1 Prof. Sayce suggests to me that the "Tumbler" pigeon is meant by the 
"descending" bird; considering the very early domestication of pigeons, this 
seems a very natural and probable explanation. 
