wild ass, the stag, the antelope, the ibex or wild goat, the wild sheep,
the wild boar, the wolf, the jackal, the fox, the hare, and the rabbit.
Of these, the lion, leopard, bear, stag, wolf, jackal, and fox seem to
have been very widely diffused, while the remainder were rarer, and,
generally speaking, confined to certain localities. The wild ass was
met with only in the dry parts of Mesopotamia, and perhaps of Syria, the
buffalo and wild boar only in moist regions, along the banks of rivers
or among marshes. The wild ox was altogether scarce; the wild sheep, the
rabbit, and the hare, were probably not common.

To this list may be added as present denizens of the region, and
therefore probably belonging to it in ancient times, 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,