The Assyrian lion is of the maneless kind, and in general habits resembles the lion of Babylonia.

The animal is comparatively rare in the eastern districts, being seldom found on the banks of the Tigris above Baghdad, and never above Kileh-Sherghat.

On the Euphrates it has been seen as high as Bir; and it is frequent on the banks of the Khabour, and in the Sinjar.

It has occasionally that remarkable peculiarity--so commonly represented on the sculptures--a short horny claw at the extremity of the tail in the middle of the ordinary tuft of hair.

The ibex or wild goat--also a favorite subject with the Assyrian sculptors--is frequent in Kurdistan, and moreover abounds on the highest ridges of the Abd-el-Aziz and the Sinjar, where it is approached with difficulty by the hunter.