libanotica_), the common lark, the Persian horned lark, the cisticole,
the yellow-billed Alpine chough, the nightingale of the East (_Ixos
xanthopygius_), the robin, the brown linnet, the chaffinch; swallows of
two kinds (_Hirundo cahirica_ and _Hirundo rufula_); the meadow
bunting; the Lebanon redstart, the common and yellow water-wagtails, the
chiffchaff, the coletit, the Russian tit, the siskin, the nuthatch,
and the willow wren. Of these the most valuable for the table are the
partridge, the francolin, and the woodcock. The Greek partridge is "a
fine red-legged bird, much larger than our red-legged partridge, and
very much better eating, with white flesh, and nearly as heavy as a
pheasant."[282] The francolin or black partridge is also a delicacy;
and the woodcock, which is identical with our own, has the same delicate
flavour.

The fish of Phoenicia, excepting certain shell-fish, are little
known, and have seldom attracted the attention of travellers. The
Mediterranean, however, where it washes the Phoenician coast, can
furnish excellent mullet,[283] while most of the rivers contain
freshwater fish of several kinds, as the _Blennius lupulus_, the
_Scaphiodon capoëta_, and the _Anguilla microptera_.[284] All of these
fish may be eaten, but the quality is inferior.

On the other hand, to certain of the shell-fish of Phoenicia a great
celebrity attaches. The purple dye which gave to the textile fabrics
of the Phoenicians a world-wide reputation was prepared from certain
shell-fish which abounded upon their coast. Four existing species have
been regarded as more or less employed in the manufacture, and it seems
to be certain, at any rate, that the Phoenicians derived the dye from
more shell-fish than one. The four are the _Buccinum lapillus_ of
Pliny,[285] which is the _Purpura lapillus_ of modern naturalists; the