90 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
of HdjjL" — (Blanford, ii, 297.) It is common also in Mesopo- 
tamia, Palestine, and other countries. The black stork, which 
is a more shy bird than the former, is less common. 
(33). Some kind of bird, which I am inclined to think 
denotes the black ibis, is mentioned under the names of 
um-mi 77ii i Tf T**"**")' " m0 ^ ner °f waters," and 
meaning is concerned, is clear, but it is not so with the 
word a-ba-ya. Lenormant gives the word as an Accadian 
form, but without suggesting its signification. Perhaps 
it is onomatopoetic. Delitzsch compares it with the 
Talmudic ibbu, which is supposed to represent the Biblical 
auaphah (ilD^N) and to signify " a kite " (?) and he suggests 
the osprey as the probable meaning. But do not the words 
" mother of waters " imply some more decided aquatic 
bird than the osprey? Some water - presaging bird ap- 
pears to be intended; perhaps the bald ibis (Comatibis 
comata), a bird of very similar habits to the Egyptian 
ibis (Jbis religiosa), which was held sacred by that ancient 
people. This latter bird always appears on the Nile at the 
times of its periodic rise, just as the waters showed signs of 
overflow; hence the bird was regarded as a prescient 
creature, foretelling the longed-for inundation and the con- 
sequent fertility of the land. Some such idea, I think, is 
intended by the expression " mother of waters," though 
both the Hebrews and the Arabs frequently employed the 
words " father " or " mother " to many kinds of animals 
as being " possessors " of some peculiarity, whether of 
habitat, form, or periodic appearance. The terms abu 
hannes, " father of John," and abu mengal, " father of the 
sickle," are both names of the Egyptian ibis; the former 
referring to the appearance of the bird about St. John's day, 
the latter to the peculiar shape of the bird's bill. The 
glossy ibis is found in large numbers on the Murdab, near 
the Caspian, where another species, the Tantalus ibis, also 
occurs. The glossy ibis is also at times very common on 
the Euphrates. The appearance of these birds happening 
about the same time as the welcome rain, caused them, 
among other reasons, to be looked upon with more or less 
The first name, so far as its 
