58 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
of Terns (Sterna) are recorded. Among the Procellariadw 
Mr. Blanford mentions Puffinus obscurus, one of the Shear- 
waters, as occurring on the Makran coast, and as being 
probably common in the Persian Gulf. Birds of this family 
are remarkably swift on the wing — can fly to windward in 
the stormiest weather, or rest on the water with the greatest 
composure in the most tremendous seas. Some of them 
might have been observed by the Assyrians. The Peli- 
canidm are represented by the well-known species Pelicanus 
onocrotalus, common on the Caspian, and by the P. crispus, 
also found on the Caspian. The specific name, onocrotalus, 
of course refers to the ass-like voice of this bird ; and it is 
curious to find that this idea is conveyed by one of the 
Assyrian names of the Pelican, namely, the "she-ass of the 
rivers" or waters. Cormorants abound on the lakes and 
rivers of Southern Persia, as well as on the Caspian. The 
species are the Phalacrocorax carbo (the great black cor- 
morant), and the P. pygmwus (the little cormorant). The 
StruthionidcB are represented by the ostrich (Struthio camelus)^ 
which however is rarely if ever seen now in Mesopotamia. It 
formerly reached, as Canon Tristram tells us, as far as the 
sandy plains of Sindh, in Western India, but is now extinct 
there. It was evidently known to the ancient inhabitants 
of Assyria, who have treated us to very grotesque figures 
of this bird, in some very extraordinary attitudes, on the 
monuments, and have left on record that it was known to 
them as the "long-legged beneficent bird." 
After this imperfect sketch of the species of birds now 
known to occur in the lands with which the subject is 
connected, I proceed at once to consider the various names 
which are mentioned in the Records. 
(1.) The Vulture ( Vultur gryphus) was definitely known to 
the Assyrians by the names of na-as-ru and 'e-ru-u, although 
these words are also used more generally to denote any 
large raptoral bird, either of the family of Vulturidce or 
Falconidw. Na-as-ru is identical with the Heb. *W5 (nesher) 
ArabicJJlj (nasr) a "vulture" or "eagle," from a root meaning 
to " tear in pieces." The word 'e-ru-u is to be referred to the 
Chaldee (ar) gryphus, a "vulture"; with which maybe com- 
