110 7 he Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
Again in V, 27, L 8, where it is written >-£^ Szjsr >^I>E> 
as the same insect. In Dr. Delitzsch's very valuable work, 
"Wo lag das Paradies"? p. 103, one of the peaks of Mount 
Amanus is mentioned as occurring in Salm. ob., 31 (Layard's 
" Inscriptions "), as Mount LaUla-ar, which the Professor 
interprets " Honigberg (?)," lallaru being synonymous with 
par nubtu, "Erzeugniss der Biene" = Assyr. dispu and matku, 
" honey," " sweet." Thus it would seem that we have to 
deal with honey in the matter of the Accadian word lallari, 
and the investigation of the bird-name would lead us to some 
honey-eating or honey-insect-eating species. But what is our 
lallari or honey bird? Can it denote the bee-eater, Merops 
apiaster, which Blanford speaks of as abounding during the 
summer time in the Persian highlands, and which Dr. Ainsworth 
tells me is quite a feature in Mesopotamia ? This bird, as its 
name imports, feeds on bees and other hymenopterous insects. 
In the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," 1839, a 
traveller in Asia Minor, speaking of the habits of the bee-eater, 
says : " They utter a rich, warbling chirp when on the wing ; 
they are often observed among the turpentine trees, from which 
bees collect much honey ; and are sometimes attracted to the 
valleys by the numerous aviaries of the peasantry." At the 
Cape of Good Hope, according to Montague, it serves as a 
guide to the Hottentots by directing them to the honey which 
the bees store in the clefts of the rocks." Like some other 
birds, notably the Indicators amongst the Cucidido?, the bee- 
eaters serve as guides to the natural honey stores in the rocks 
or trees; hence it would well merit the name of the honey-bird, 
and when we consider how precious a commodity honey was 
esteemed before the introduction of sugar, we can well under- 
stand that great attention would be given to those agents 
which served as a guide to its discovery. But this bird 
will not fulfil all the necessary conditions, because, as 
was seen above, the lallari is also called "Terror" of 
heaven, which probably implies some bird of prey. I would 
therefore suggest the honey buzzard ( Pernis apivorous), one 
of the Buteonido3 represented in Mesopotamia and Elam. This 
is one of the Raptores, and, like the rest of the family, is far 
less majestic in appearance and less courageous in habits than 
