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Iyuges
It seems to me that the real question is not what Melek Tâ’ûs is, but how the devil-god came to be symbolized by the image of a bird. This question finds an answer in the fact that the worship of a bird appears to have been the most ancient of idolatry. It is condemned especially in Deut. 4: 16, 17: "Lest ye corrupt yourselves and make a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the -likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air." And Layard, in his Nineveh and Its Remains, vol. II, p. 462, gives the sketch of a bird from one of the slabs dug up at Nimrud. He remarks that the Iyuges, or sacred birds, belonged to the Babylonian and probably also to the Assyrian religion. They were a kind of demons, who exercised a peculiar influence over mankind, resembling the feroher of Zoroastrianism. The oracles attributed to Zoroaster describe them as powers anointed by God.
-Isya Joseph, Devil Worship, The Sacred Books and Traditions of the Yezidiz
The Iynges, or sacred birds, belonged to the Babylonian, and probably to the Assyrian religion. They were a kind of demons, who exercised a peculiar influence over mankind, resembling the ferouher of the Zoroastrian system. (Ignasius, de Insomn. p. 134 ed. Patav. Schol. Niceph.) The oracles attributed to Zoroaster describe them as powers animated by God...
(The intelligible Iynges themselves understand from the Father; By ineffable counsels being moved so as to understand.)(Zoroaster, Oracul. Magn. ad Calcem Oracul. Sybill. Ed. Gall. p. 80, and Cory's Fragments, p. 250.) Their images made of gold were in the palace of the king of Babylon, according to Philostratus. (Lib. i. c. 25, and lib. vi. c. 2.) They were connected with magic. (Selden, de Dis Syriis, p. 39.) It is possible that the bird borne by warriors in a bas-relief from the ruins of the centre palace, may represent the Iynges. This figure may, however, resemble the golden eagle carried before the Persian monarchs. (Xenophon, Cyrop. 1, vi., Anab.1. ix. ; Quintus Cortius, 1 iii e 3.)
-Ninevah and Its Remains by Sir Austen Henry Layard, 1852. pg. 350-1 (Two Volumes Complete in One ed.).
Now the whole air is thrilled by the voices of birds: A Swan, a Phoenix, a Raven, a Hawk, a Pelican, a Dove, an Ibis and a Vulture: in his turn each one sang praises, even as it was given unto him to understand one part of the Spirit of the Master.
-Heart of the Master