The former is now the more common in the country; but the latter, which is the fiercer of the two, is the one ordinarily represented upon the sculptures.

The lioness is nearly as much feared as the lion; when her young are attacked, or when she has lost them, she is perhaps even more terrible.

Her roar is said to be deeper and far more imposing than of the male.
[Illustration: PLATE 6] The other animals require but few remarks.

Gazelles are plentiful in the more sandy regions; buffaloes abound in the marshes of the south, where they are domesticated, and form the chief wealth of the inhabitants; troops of jackals are common, while the hyaena and wolf are comparatively rare; the wild-boar frequents the river banks and marshes, as depicted in the Assyrian sculptures [PLATE VI., Fig.

1]; hares abound in the country about Baghdad; porcupines and badgers are found in most places--leopards, lynxes, wild-cats, and deer, are somewhat uncommon.
Chaldaea possesses a great variety of birds.