jor Smith tells me, the _Darraj_ of
the Persians, the _Black Partridge_ of English sportsmen, sometimes called
the Red-legged Francolin. The Darraj is found in some parts of Egypt,
where its peculiar call is interpreted by the peasantry into certain
Arabic words, meaning "Sweet are the corn-ears! Praised be the Lord!" In
India, Baber tells us, the call of the Black Partridge was (less piously)
rendered "_Shir daram shakrak_," "I've got milk and sugar!" The bird seems
to be the [Greek: attagas] of Athenaeus, a fowl "speckled like the
partridge, but larger," found in Egypt and Lydia. The Greek version of its
cry is the best of all: "[Greek: tris tois kakourgois kaka]" ("Threefold
ills to the ill-doers!"). This is really like the call of the black
partridge in India as I recollect it. [_Tetrao francolinus_.--H. C.]

(_Chrestomathie Arabe_, II. 295; _Baber_, 320; _Yonge's Atken._ IX. 39.)

NOTE 2.--Abbott mentions the humped (though small) oxen in this part of
Persia, and that in some of the neighbouring districts they are taught to
kneel to receive the load, an accomplishment which seems to have struck
Mas'udi (III. 27), who says he saw it exhibited by oxen at Rai (near
modern Tehran). The Ain Akbari also ascribes it to a very fine breed in
Bengal. The whimsical name _Zebu_, given to the humped or Indian ox in
books of Zoology, was taken by Buffon from the exhibitors of such a beast
at a French Fair, who probably invented it. That the humped breeds of oxen
existed in this part of Asia in ancient times is shown by sculptures at
Kouyunjik. (See cut below.)

[Illustration: Humped Oxen from the Assyrian Sculptures at Koyunjik.]

A letter from Agassiz, printed in the Proc. As. Soc. Bengal (1865), refers
to wild "zebus," and calls the species a small one. There is no wild
"zebu," and some of the breeds are of enormous size.

["White oxen, with short thick horns and a round hump between the
shoulders, are now very rare between Kerman and Bender 'Abbas. They are,
however, still to be found towards Beluchistan and Mekran, and they kneel
to be loaded like camels. The sheep which I saw had fine large tails; I
did not, however, hear of any having so high a weight as thirty pounds."
(_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. p. 493.)--H. C.]

The fat-tailed sheep is well known in many parts of Asia and part of
Africa. It is mentioned by Ctesias, and by Aelian, who says the shepherds
used to extract the tallow from the live animal, sewing up the tai