The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 51) 
pared the verb "to be naked," and probably alludes to 
the naked neck of the griffon vulture. The Accadian equiva- 
lent ID KHU, perhaps pronounced eru H^T)' s ig n ifi es 
" the powerful bird," and, like the two Assyrian names, is 
doubtless generic. References to these powerful birds of prey 
are frequent in the inscriptions, as " the birds of heaven," in 
allusion to their lofty soarings in the air, or they are men- 
tioned as building their nests and having their abodes on 
rocky and inaccessible mountains. Figures of these Raptores 
are not unfrequent on the monuments. They occur as 
accompaniments in battle - scenes, feeding on the dead 
bodies of the slain, tearing out their entrails, and sometimes 
carrying off aloft the decapitated head of some unfortunate 
soldier. The figures are rudely drawn, and more closely 
resemble eagles than vultures, the bare neck of the latter 
bird being not often definitely represented. The figures of 
Nisroch, the Eagle Divinity, certainly have the long powerful 
beak of the griffon vulture, and, I think, have more decided 
reference to that bird than to any eagle. To the Oriental 
mind there was nothing in the griffon conveying the idea of a 
repulsive bird — on the contrary, it was a type, as Tristram 
well says, of the lordly and the noble. Both eagles and 
vultures are carrion-feeders as a rule, and prefer food already 
dead rather than be at the trouble of killing it themselves. I 
have already mentioned some of the species of eagles which 
occur in Assyria, and which would be known to the people, 
and referred to in a general way in then writings. 
(2.) The za-ai-khu and la-hha-an-tuv denote some 
" screaming bird of prey," and more than this cannot be said. 
The word za-ai-khu |y ^ *~f<T) conn ects itself with the 
Hebrew rTO (tsdvakh), " to cry out," or " to scream " ; 
la-kha-an-tuv yy^ *~Hf~ * s no ^ ^ ess c ^ ear * ^ * s 
identical with the Arabic word (lahim) " carnivorous," 
^1 " to kill," with which the modern Arabic name lahham, 
" a butcher," may be compared. Dr. Delitzsch suggests its 
possible identity with the Arab. p£J rakham (Heb. EFT)) 
" to be affectionate," and compares it with the Hebrew name 
