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Land animals and birds

If the fauna of Phoenicia is restricted so far as land-animals are concerned, it is extensive and varied in respect of birds. The list of known birds includes two sorts of eagle (/Circaëtos gallicus/ and /Aquila nævioïdes/), the osprey, the vulture, the falcon, the kite, the honey-buzzard, the marsh-harrier, the sparrow-hawk, owls of two kinds (/Ketupa ceylonensis/ and /Athene meridionalis/), the grey shrike (/Lanius excubitor/), the common cormorant, the pigmy cormorant (/Græculus pygmæus/), numerous seagulls, as the Adriatic gull (/Larus melanocephalus/), Andonieri's gull, the herring-gull, the Red-Sea-gull (/Larus ichthyo-aëtos/), and others; the gull-billed tern (/Sterna anglica/), the Egyptian goose, the wild duck, the woodcock, the Greek partridge (/Caccabis saxatilis/), the waterhen, the corncrake or landrail, the coot, the water-ouzel, the francolin; plovers of three kinds, green, golden, and Kentish; dotterels of two kinds, red- throated and Asiatic; the Manx shearwater, the flamingo, the heron, the common kingfisher, and the black and white kingfisher of Egypt, the jay, the wood-pigeon, the rock-dove, the blue thrush, the Egyptian fantail (/Drymœca gracilis/), the redshank, the wheat-ear (/Saxicola 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." The francolin or black partridge is also a delicacy; and the woodcock, which is identical with our own, has the same delicate flavour.

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