He appears to be the _Asinus onager_ of naturalists, a distinct species
from the _Asinus hemippus_ of Mesopotamia, and the _Asinus hemionus_ of
Thibet and Tartary.

It is doubtful whether some kind of wild cattle does not still inhabit
the more remote tracts of Kurdistan. The natives mention among the
animals of their country "the mountain ox;" and though it has been
suggested that the beast intended is the elk, it is perhaps as likely
to be the Aurochs, which seems certainly to have been a native of the
adjacent country of Mesopotamia in ancient times. At any rate, until
Zagros has been thoroughly explored by Europeans, it must remain
uncertain what animal is meant. Meanwhile we may be tolerably sure that,
besides the species enumerated, Mount Zagros contains within its folds
some large and rare ruminant.

Among the birds the most remarkable are the eagle, the bustard, the
pelican, the stork, the pheasant, several kinds of partridges, the
quail, the woodpecker, the bee-eater, the hoopoe, and the nightingale.
Besides these, doves and pigeons, both wild and tame, are common; as are
swallows, goldfinches, sparrows, larks, blackbirds, thrushes, linnets,
magpies, crows, hawks, falcons, teal, snipe, wild ducks, and many other
kinds of waterfowl. The most common partridge is a red-legged species
(_Caccabis chukar_ of naturalists), which is unable to fly far, and is
hunted until it drops. Another kind, common both in Azerbijan and in
the Elburz, is the black-breasted partridge (_Perdix nigra_)--a bird not
known in many countries. Besides these, there is a small gray partridge
in the Zagros range, which the Kurds call seslca. The bee-eater (_Merops
Persicus_) is rare. It is a bird of passage, and only visits Media
in the autumn, preparatory to retreating into the warm district of
Mazandoran for the winter months. The hoopoe (_Upupa_) is probably still