the lynx, the
wildcat, the ratel, the sable, the genet, the badger, the otter, the
beaver, the polecat, the jerboa, the rat, the mouse, the marmot,
the porcupine, the squirrel, and perhaps the alligator. Of these the
commonest at the present day are porcupines, badgers, otters, rats,
mice, and jerboas. The ratel, sable, and genet belong only to the north;
the beaver is found nowhere but in the Khabour and middle Euphrates;
the alligator, if a denizen of the region at all exists only in the
Euphrates.

The chief birds of the region are eagles, vultures, falcons, owls,
hawks, many kinds of crows, magpies, jackdaws, thrushes, blackbirds,
nightingales, larks, sparrows, goldfinches, swallows, doves of fourteen
kinds, francolins, rock partridges, gray partridges, black partridges,
quails, pheasants, capercailzies, bustards, flamingoes, pelicans,
cormorants, storks, herons, cranes, wild-geese, ducks, teal,
kingfishers, snipes, woodcocks, the sand-grouse, the hoopoe, the green
parrot, the becafico, the locust-bird, the humming-bird (?), and
the bee-eater. The eagle, pheasant, capercailzie, quail, parrot,
locust-bird, becafico, and humming-bird are rare; the remainder are all
tolerably common. Besides these, we know that in ancient times ostriches
wore found within the limits of the Empire, though now they have
retreated further south into the Great Desert of Arabia. Perhaps
bitterns may also formerly have frequented some of the countries
belonging to it, though they are not mentioned among the birds of the
region by modern writers.

There is a bird of the heron species, or rather of a species between
the heron and the stork, which seems to deserve a few words of special
description. It is found chiefly in Northern Syria, in the plain of
Aleppo and the districts watered by the Koweik and Sajur rivers. The
Arabs call it Tair-el-Raouf, or "the magnificent." This bird is of a
grayish-white, the breast white, the joints of the wings tipped with
scarlet, and the under part of the beak scarlet, the upper part being of
a blackish-gray. The beak is nearly five inches long, and two thirds of
an inch thick. The circumference of the eye is red; the feet are of a
deep yellow; and the bird in its general form strongly resembles the
stork; but its color is darker. It is four feet high, and covers a
breadth of nine feet when the wings are spread. The birds of this
species are wont to collect in large flocks on the North Syrian rivers,
and t