Another shepherd (El-râï, Alpha in Ophiuchus) pastures his sheep (El-agnâm, small stars in the region of Hercules’s Club) on a mead (El-rauda), which is defended on the side of the above-mentioned hyenas by two hurdles (Nasak schâmi and Nasak jemêni, rows of stars in Hercules and in the upper part of the Snake), and is open in the direction of the shepherd’s two dogs (Khelb el-râï, Alpha in Hercules and Beta in Ophiuchus).
A third shepherd and a third herd are to be found further to the south in the Milky Way. The latter was represented as a river in which four animals (camels or sheep) are drinking, while four others (El-naâîm el-sâdira, Zeta, Sigma, Tau, and Phi, in the Archer), are going away from it after having quenched their thirst. Lambda in the Archer was regarded as their shepherd (Râï el-naâïm).
Yet another shepherd was signified by the star Beta in Orion (Rigel). He was called Râï el-dschauzâ, the shepherd in the Dschauzâ, or Nut-region, i. e., in the region of Orion, which is splendid with many conspicuous stars. The herd which he was given to pasture are probably the “Thirst-quenched Camels” (El-nihâl), which were regarded as being the stars Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta, in the Hare in the vicinity of the Milky Way.
Besides these groups of animals, there are several others scattered over the heavens. The three pairs of stars standing close together at the feet of the Great Bear were likened to the footmarks of a gazelle. They were called the Gazelle’s Springs, or Hoofs (Kafzât el-dhibâ or Dhufra el-gizlân). Naturally the animal itself was regarded as being in the neighborhood of its tracks. On the one hand, Omicron, Pi, Rho, Sigma, A and d, on the head of the Great Bear, and on the other, as it appears, the stars of the Little Lion were included under the name Gazelle (El-dhibâ). The latter group also appears under the names the Gazelles and their Young (El-dhibâ w’ aulâdhâ).
The five stars of the Virgin, Beta, Eta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon, were looked upon as so many yelping dogs (El-auwâ); Alpha and Beta in the Archer as a pair of birds peculiar to Arabia (El-suradain); Alpha (Fomalhaut) in the Southern Fish and Beta (Diphda) in the Whale as two Frogs (El-difda el-awel and El-difda el-thâni); four stars in the Great Dog and the Dove and as many Monkeys (El-kurûd), and the two bright stars of the latter constellation as a pair of Ravens (El-ag’riba).
All the creatures so far mentioned are familiar to the Arabs, the camel most of all. Just as their language is rich in words which refer to this useful animal, so also it plays the chief rôle in their astronomical nomenclature. We have already met with some camel-groups in the Arabian heavens. We find two more in the Bull and in the Crow. The brightest star in the Hyades has the name of “the Large Camel” (El-fenîk or El-fetîk), the others are called “the Small Camels” (El-kilâs or El-kalâjis). The four principal stars of the Crow were regarded as so many male-camels (El-adschmâl), analogous to the above-mentioned four female-camels in a similar figure at the head of the Dragon.
Just as frequently do we come across the ostrich in the Arabian heavens. The Southern Crown bears the name of the Ostrich Nest (Udha el-naâm), to which two pairs of ostriches (El-dhalîmain, Lambda and Mu in the Archer) appear to belong. A second ostrich-nest was formed from a number of stars in the upper part of Eridanus. In the neighborhood are five hen-ostriches (El-naâmât, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Tau, and Upsilon) in the belly of the Whale, and somewhat further away are two male birds (El-dhalîm, Alpha in the Southern Fish and Alpha in the River). The latter have a number of young ostriches (El-rijâl stars in the Phœnix) between them. Ostrich eggs (El-baid), or their shells (El-kaid), are represented by small stars in the vicinity of the nest.
Besides the groups, we also find various isolated animals in the starry heavens of the Arabs. Among these is the Black Horse (El-dschaun, Epsilon in the Great Bear), perhaps belonging to the neighboring Governor (El-kâïd, Eta, in the same constellation); the beast of prey (Anâk el-ard, Gamma in Andromeda); the Male Camel (El-fahl), which was represented by Canopus and the Dog running in front of Sirius (El-khelb, Beta in Canis Major). This nomenclature, borrowed from the animal kingdom, to which must be added the Maidens (El-adsâra Omicron, Eta, Delta, and Epsilon in Canis Major); the Outrider and the Man-riding-behind (El-fawâris and El-ridf, Delta, Gamma, Epsilon, Zeta, and Alpha in the Swan); this nomenclature, I say, is peculiar in that only one star was always used to distinguish one animal.
The Arabs with so lively an imagination saw in the skies sheep, camels, ostriches, but without being led to it by the resemblance of the contour of the entire star group, as was the case of the designers of the Greek heavens. They therefore had no animal figures proper, but only animal names, such as the She-goat, the two He-goats, and the two Asses of the Greeks. On two occasions, however, it happened that more than one star was given to one animal. When the eight stars of the Archer, which were represented under the figure of only four animals at pasture going to and returning from drinking, were regarded by some as two ostriches, this does not seem to be an exception to the rule, but a misunderstanding instead, caused by the resemblance of two words (Naâïm and Naâm). The case is probably the same with the four stars, Delta, Pi, Rho, and Epsilon, in the Dragon which are called the He-goat by a very late Arab astronomer; for a star-name given by the lexicographer, Firuzabadi, would argue that analogy held true here also.
The two unmistakable cases to which I refer are those of the falling and flying Eagle (El-nesr el-wâki and El-nesr el-tâïr), the former of which was made up of three stars in the form of an equilateral triangle, and the latter of three standing in a straight line (Alpha, Epsilon, and Zeta of the Lyre, Alpha, Beta and Gamma of the Greek Eagle).