44 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
information very scanty. " Like a bird he fled," a phrase 
of frequent occurrence, can convey no definite meaning 
beyond that of swiftness ; " like a cu-mu or tus-mu bird he 
placed the ensigns of his royalty"; "like a Su-din-nu bird he 
fled," " like to Su-su-di birds their hearts were terrified " — all 
these are sentences which leave us almost in the dark as to 
what kind of birds these names respectively denote ; all that 
the two last instances convey to us is that some timid species 
is intended ; but in connection with other evidence such as that 
supplied by the Bilingual Lists, these and similar phrases 
may afford some information, more or less important, as to 
the bird intended. 
The nature of the evidence afforded by the Bilingual and 
Trilingual Lists is chiefly, if not solely, philological ; in the 
former we meet with columns of bird-names given sometimes 
in two of Assyrian, or in one of Assyrian and one of Accadian 
columns; in the Trilingual we meet with two Assyrian 
columns and their equivalents in one Accadian. The value 
of this kind of philological evidence is variable ; we have to 
depend on the derivation of the name, and to compare that 
name with names occurring in the cognate languages in the 
case of Assyrian ; in Accadian we have to ascertain the 
meaning or probable meaning of the syllabic parts which 
compose the whole bird-name. Where the similarity between 
an unknown Assyrian word and an ascertained HebreAv or 
Arabic name exists, there is, of course, very often strong 
evidence to believe that the . bird itself is the same, other 
points, if such there be, being equal. But we must see, 
before we identify any bird-name with some particular 
species, that the philological evidence is in accordance with 
the general zoological facts, whether as regards the habits, 
form, or geographical locality of a species or family ; or, the 
philological evidence, if it lacks actual zoological corrobora- 
tion, should, at least, incorporate with it some notion or 
other, even if erroneous, prevalent at any time among the 
people who make use of the name. Fanciful and erroneous 
notions on natural history subjects, so common formerly, 
and still existing amongst uneducated persons in our own 
country, would naturally now and then find expression in a 
