Fig. 4.] The ostrich, which we know from Xenophon to have been a former inhabitant of the country on the left bank of the Euphrates, but which has now retreated into the wilds of Arabia, occurs frequently upon cylinders, dresses, and utensils; sometimes stalking along apparently unconcerned; sometimes hastening at full speed, as if pursued by the hunter, and, agreeably to the description of Xenophon, using its wing for a sail. [Plate XXIX., Figs. 1, 2.] The partridge is still more common than either of these.  He is evidently sought as food.  We find him carried in the hand of sportsmen returning from the chase, or see him flying above their heads as they beat the coverts, or finally observe him pierced by a successful shot, and in the act of falling a prey to his pursuers. [Plate XXIX., Fig. 3.]

[Illustration:  Plate 29]

The other birds represented upon the sculptures, though occasionally possessing some marked peculiarities of form or habit, have not yet been identified with any known species. [Plate XXIX., Fig. 2.] They are commonly represented as haunting the fir-woods, and often as perched upon the trees.  One appears, in a sculpture of Sargon’s. in the act of climbing the stein of a tree, like the nut-hatch or the woodpecker.  Another has a tail like a pheasant, but in other respects cannot be said to resemble that bird.  The artist does not appear to aim at truth in these delineations, and it probably would be a waste of ingenuity to conjecture which species of bird he intended.

We have no direct evidence that bustards inhabited Mesopotamia in Assyrian times; but as they have certainly been abundant in that region front the time of Xenophon to our own, there can be little doubt that they existed in some parts of Assyria during the Empire.  Considering their size, their peculiar appearance, and the delicacy of their flesh, it is remarkable that the Assyrian remains furnish no trace of them.  Perhaps, as they are extremely shy, they may have been comparatively rare in the country when the population was numerous, and when the greater portion of the tract between the rivers was brought under cultivation.

The fish most plentiful in Assyria are the same as in Babylonia, namely, barbel and carp.  They abound not only in the Tigris and Euphrates, but also in the lake of Khutaniyeh, and often grow to a great size.  Trout are found in the streams which run down from Zagros; and there may be many other sorts which have not yet been observed.  The sculptures represent all the waters, whether river, pond, or marsh, as full of fish; but the forms are for the most part too conventional to admit of identification. [Plate XXIX., Fig. 3.]