46 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
In the writings of the Greek and Roman authors we 
meet with descriptions of animals, more or less full of 
information, sometimes very erroneous, sometimes very 
correct; now vague and uncertain, now vivid and exact. 
But in the Assyrian Records we meet with scarcely any help 
of this kind; descriptive accounts fail us almost entirely, 
the references to birds are scant in number and poor in 
information, and consequently we are driven to depend almost 
entirely on such philological evidence as is conveyed by the 
meaning of the names on the Bilingual or Trilingual Tablets, 
on the derivation and meaning of the Assyrian names and 
their Accadian equivalents. 
These Accadian names often supply important materials 
for consideration. The frequent use of the determinative 
prefixes or suffixes is almost always of some definite value. 
In the case of the birds whose names occur in the lists the 
presence of the suffix >~|<y (khii) informs us that the name is 
that of some bird. Here we start : we know that we have 
to do with the class axes, and no other. Then as to the 
probable bird denoted by the name. Although much at 
present remains obscure, most interesting and valuable help 
sometimes meets us on the analysis of the Accadian name. 
When the meaning or meanings of the syllabic parts which 
constitute the whole Accadian compound name are really 
known, then often the whole is known, and one peculiarity 
in the form or habits of a certain bird is admirably pourtrayed 
in one well expressed and well selected compound Accadian 
name; and when the information thus conveyed by the 
graphic single-word description accords with the form or 
habits of the bird supposed to be indicated, and when its 
equivalent Assyrian name answers to that of some ascertained 
species in the kindred languages, our evidence is perfectly 
satisfactory. Sometimes the Accadian bird-name clearly 
reveals itself, even without Assyrian help. I think that, 
for instance, the Accadian names of the swallow, which 
combined give the meaning of "the insect-bird which builds 
its nest or makes its seat on beams or wood- work, and 
which (in flight) closes its tail," are sufficiently indicative of 
that bird. Unfortunately, the part of the tablets which 
