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 (_Drymoeca 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.”[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.