The most remarkable of the Persian birds are the eagle, the vulture, the cormorant, the falcon, the bustard, the pheasant, the heath-cock, the red-legged partridge, the small gray partridge, the pin tailed grouse, the sand-grouse, the francolin, the wild swan, the flamingo, the stork, the bittern, the oyster-catcher, the raven, the hooded crow, and the cuckoo.  Besides these, the lakes boast all the usual kinds of water-fowl, as herons, ducks, snipe, teal, etc.; the gardens and groves abound with blackbirds, thrushes, and nightingales; curlews and peewits are seen occasionally; while pigeons, starlings, crows, magpies, larks, sparrows, and swallows are common.  The francolin is hunted by men on foot in the country between Shiraz and Kerman, and is taken by the hand after a few flights.  The oyster-catcher, which is a somewhat rare bird, has been observed only on Lake Neyriz.  The bustard occurs both in the low plain along the coast, and on the high plateau, where it is captured by means of hawks.  The pheasant and the heath-cock (the latter a black species spotted with white) are found in the woods near Failyun.  The sand-grouse and the pin-tailed grouse belong to the eastern portion of the country, the portion known anciently as Carmania or “the hot region.”  The other kinds are diffused pretty generally.

The shores and rivers of Persia Proper supplied the people very plentifully with fish.  The ancient writers tell us that the inhabitants of the coast tract lived almost wholly on a fish diet.  The Indian Sea appears in those days to have abounded with whales, which were not unfrequently cast upon the shores, affording a mine of wealth to the natives.  The great ribs were used as beams in the formation of huts, while the jaws served as doors and the smaller bones as planking.  Dolphins also abounded in the Persian waters; together with many other fish of less bulk, which were more easy to capture.  On these smaller fish, which they caught in nets, the maritime inhabitants subsisted principally.  They had also an unfailing resource in the abundance of oysters, and other shell-fish along their coast—­the former of excellent quality.

In the interior, though the lakes, being salt or brackish, had no piscatory stores, the rivers were, for the most part, it would seem, well provided; at least, good fish are still found in many of the streams, both small and large; and in some they are exceedingly plentiful.  Modern travellers fail to distinguish the different kinds; but we may presume that they are not very unlike those of the adjoining Media, which appear to be trout, carp, barbel, dace, bleak, and gudgeon.

The reptiles of Persia Proper are not numerous.  They are chiefly tortoises, lizards, frogs, land-snakes, and water-snakes.  The land-snakes are venomous, but their poison is not of a very deadly character; and persons who have been bitten by them, if properly treated, generally recover.  The lizards are of various sizes, some quite small, others more than three feet long, and covered with a coarse rough skin like that of a toad.  They have the character of being venomous, and even dangerous to life; but it may be doubted whether they are not, like our toads and newts, in reality perfectly harmless.