114 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Records. 
by no means always observed. We have, therefore, the idea 
of abstraction in some sense and degree preserved in NAM as 
a " flock," bird-ship, if I may coin a word, and that of multi- 
tudes in the other component part, viz., BIR. If we apply 
this test to the instances given above, we find — supposing 
that the identifications are correct — that the idea of birds 
congregating suits those kinds which those names seem to 
point out, but is more applicable to some kinds than to others. 
The sparrow is a familiar instance ; the pelicans at times 
associate in enormous numbers, covering pieces of water 
nearly a mile square ; the sand-grouse, perhaps denoted by 
the congregating bird of chequered plumage (burrumtu) are 
noted for their numbers. And to a considerable extent this 
is true of the mountain finch and the nut-cracker (buridu), and 
fairly suits the habits of the warbling birds of the reeds. In 
Sennacherib (Smith's Tr., p. 119) we have cima tibut a-ri-bi 
ma-ha-di, " like an invasion of many ravens " ; the name of 
the bird being written phonetically, the numbers are expressed 
by a definite adjective. In Assurbanipal (Smith's Tr., p. 103), 
we have cima tibut (NAM BIR) ^f<|^ *^T < T' "like an 
invasion of ravens"; but the idea of multitudes is here 
expressed by the meaning of the ideograph, and requires not 
a separate expletive adjective. I by no means mean to assert 
that this is an invariable rule ; but I think that where there 
is this D.P. attached to any bird-name, there is reasonable 
probability that the identification should be sought in some 
species of bird of congregating habits. It is true that in 
W.A.I., V, 27, 3 obv., this D.P. is absent in two instances 
where we should have expected it to occur, viz., in the 
starling ("little shepherd bird") and in the locust bud (khu 
RUB khu), which sometimes darkens the air by its multitudes; 
but the absence of this D.P. in certain instances does not 
affect the general rule. Its presence may denote birds that 
associate, but its absence from a bird-name does not thereby 
of necessity imply a negative. 
The character >-|<y^ nam, which sometimes, irrespective 
of the D.P. NAM BIR, enters into the composition of a name, 
implies the idea of " destiny," either as relates to the destined 
periodical returns of the migratory birds, or to some notion 
