108 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
(52.) Line 38. Immediately after the royal bird of 
variegated plumage occurs the name J£J cu-pi-tu, 
having as its only other representative the Accadian 
>^yy jry^J y ^f- >-y<y su un kur sa nu khu. The 
meaning of this latter word is unknown. The Assyrian may 
possibly mean the " bending " bird, from HDS " to bend " 
or " bow down." This may be another name for the flamingo, 
whose curved bill is such that the bird is obliged to curve 
down its whole neck and to reverse the position of its bill in 
the water, in order to be able to feed ; but this is mere con- 
jecture, and further evidence is required for identification. 
The bending — even if the name has this meaning — would 
also suit the avocet (Recurvirostra), the curlew, etc. 1 
(53.) In line 41 we meet with ^ <^ Vff HftA 
its-tsur a-sa-gi, which has as its equivalent the name already 
considered, viz., the ^5^= Hf^T^ ^T*? 1 H^T^ di-ic-di-ic, 
which two Assyrian names are equated with the Accadian 
^y < y^ ^yyy^ ^^~yyy ^y < y nam bir gis u gir khu - 
The dicdic, as we have seen, is " the sparrow " ; its-tsur asagi 
means " the bird of the thorn-bush "; the word asagu, I think, 
must be referred to the Amharic ftftft e-so-ke, the iEth. ^}Jft 
so-ke, " spina" ; v. Ludolf, "Lex. Amhar.," p. 58. I may here 
mention in passing that the Amharic name of the Hyrax 
Syriacus (the Shdphan of the Heb. Bible, " Coney " of our 
A. V.), is, according to Bruce, Ashkoko, so called in allusion 
" to the long herinaceous hairs which like small thorns grow 
upon its back." The Accadian name is made up of the 
following elements : GIS = " wood," S^ff^ 5? " food, and 
GIR = " thorn," the whole denoting " a thorny tree which 
affords food." The bird, therefore, is the sparrow (Passer 
salicarius), which is known to frequent in large flocks haw- 
thorn bushes and other berry-producing trees, and breeds 
always in thorny bushes. In W.A.I., V, 18, 6, the dicdicku 
has >-y<y ^>y~< ^^yy ^yyy^ H^y ^u-u-zu-ga (?) m« as its 
equivalent in the Accadian column. I can give no explanation. 
(54.) In the 43rd line one of the Assyrian columns is 
1 Cf. the Sanskrit krauricha, "a curlew," from brunch, "to curve." 
