102 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
snow-clad districts; cf. Arab. j^", "frigidus fait," ^j, "grando," 
"hail"; or the name may refer to the hail-like spots such as 
occur on the plumage of the nutcracker (Nucifraga cataractes), 
which Lewysohn suggests as being perhaps the bird denoted. 
The Snow Finch (Montif ring ilia alpicola, Pall.), a species 
closely allied to M. nivalis, occurs on the Caucasus, and is a 
permanent inhabitant of the Elburz, whence Major St. John 
obtained specimens shot in the snow in the month of February. 
Flocks are found at an elevation of between 9,000 and 10,000 
feet above the sea. Like the M. nivalis, this species is probably 
at times migratory, and would thus suit the requirement of 
the buridu, being " a bird of destiny " or migration. 1 
The Accadian equivalent of the siliku (silingu) or bvridu is 
IL LUM Bi khu, a word which it is difficult to explain. The 
word az-ci-ku may be onomatopoetic. Nothing more definite 
can be said of the buridu than that it denotes a "speckled or pied 
bird of omen," which the Assyrian and Accadian names imply. 
(41.) Obv. No. 1, 1. 10, ^ff E£f £J < 
dha-ab-bi-u, or ^^^J If ca ~ c ^ s na ' fln ') admits of 
easy identity. The former name, dhabbiu, is to be referred 
to the Hebrew *Dtp dhdba , " to sink," " dip," " plunge " or 
" dive." With the latter word ca-cis (ndari), "the cacis of 
the river," Delitzsch very aptly compares the Arabic ^.jjyU 
mukavkis, which Freytag ("Lex. Arab.," s.v. IV, p. 198) 
explains by " nomen avis collari praeditse, columba similis, 
albse cum nigro mixtse." This explanation, together with the 
idea of diving implied by the other name, dhabbiu, at once 
suggests the little Grebe (Podiceps minor) as the bird intended. 
This grebe is included in the list given by Blanford (" Zool. of 
Persia," p. 304) of the family of Colymbidw, as occurring in 
the neighbourhood of the Caspian and other places. The 
Podiceps minor is an inhabitant of the Caspian, and also the 
1 The destruction caused by hailstones is an object of dread in many countries. 
In a fragment of a hymn to Marduk, we have ina pi ptiridica mannu iparassid, 
"in the face of thy hail who can escape"? (W.A.I., IV, 26, 45.) The snow- 
bunting, as inhabiting hail-visited districts, would thus naturally be regarded as 
a bird of omen. 
