132 The Birds of the Assyrian Monuments and Record*. 
ASSYRIAN BIRDS. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 
Plate I. A workman felling timber in a mountainous country. Birds with two 
nests and four young ones in each, in a fir tree ; the bird standing up 
between the two nests looks like a pigeon, but the depth of the nests, 
and the number of the young, preclude this idea ; the proximity of 
buildings would seem to point to some semi-domesticated bird. 
Plate II. Figures of eagles or vultures as depicted in battle-scenes ; the bird 
shown in the top drawing represents the Jcharbaccdnu, " entrail-eating 
bird," and the tdkhatsasenu, " battle-bird " of the lists. (See p. 105.) 
Plate III. Fig. 1, an eagle ; 2. Eaven feeding on the dead body of a soldier ; 
3. Large figure of an eagle, probably carried with the Assyrian armies 
as a standard ; the Persian royal standard was an eagle of gold, with 
spread-out wings, on the top of a spear. 4. Man slaying eagles. 
5. Vulture-headed deity. 6. Eaven. 7. Notwithstanding the parrot- 
like form of this figure, it is probably meant for a bird of prey ; it 
occurs on a very conventional representation of a lion hunt. 
Plate IV. Winged human figures with heads of the griffon-vulture. 
Plate V. The upper drawing represents a battle-scene, with birds of prey 
feeding on the slain ; the bird depicted in the act of picking out a man's 
eye is a raven ; compare the expression, budhur ini, " eye-picker," 
p. 79. The figures on the bronze dish are those of two bare-necked 
griffon-vultures about to feast on the dead body of a kid or fawn. 
Plate VI. Eepresents various birds in the act of flying, descending from trees, 
or falling after having been shot with bow and arrow. The long- 
tailed bird (top centre) is probably meant for a magpie ; compare the 
name dahl, "the long bird," of the lists (p. 109). The men with 
hare, living birds in the hands, and birds' nests with young ones, are 
returning from a hunting or fowling expedition ; it is quite impossible 
to say what birds are intended. 
Plate VII. Eeturn from hunting with hares and birds ; the birds in the men's 
hands and the one in flight are probably meant for partridges or 
francolins ; the bird ascending the trunk of a fir tree may be intended 
for a woodpecker, or other scansorial kind, but the beak is too much 
curved for a woodpecker, and the artist has not represented the 
downward affixed position of the tail to the tree, as generally exhibited 
in a climbing woodpecker. 
Plate VIII. Living birds in flight, about to perch, or captured ; francolins seem 
to be intended. 
