Birds in Sanskrit Literature situations in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and further south. Even where these. Owls are common they are but seldom seen unless put up by beating through the grass. They come out in the evening when they often perch on trees. The following synonymy probably furnishes us with a name or epithet this bird: 174 "कटप्रूः कीटके धूके' कामरूपिण्यपि स्मृतः" पेरुसूरिऽप्रोणादिक पदार्णव 2.211. is clearly a homonymous adnoun or epithet designating several objects, and as an epithet for an Owl it may be analysed as below:- कटं तुणम् (श० कल्प ० ) ; प्रु गमने; कटे तृणे प्रवते कटप्रू, hence कटप्रू उलूक is an Owl that moves or lives in grass; cf. कट तीरं प्रवते इति कटप्रू नदीतरंग: in दशमायुणादिवृत्ति 10.2. कटप्रू also means a demon or (M.W.) and should, in this sense, refer to one that hides and moves in tall grass or in the deeply dented banks of rivers. It is thus just possible that the name 3 belongs to the Grass Owl. 1. धूक here simply means an owl that is not a क्षुद्रोलूक 49 OTHER OWLS 1. This family constitutes a well defined group of predacious birds easy of recognition. Most of them hunt for prey during the dark hours of the night but a few have diurnal or semi-diurnal habits. One particular species eats carrion in addition to the common fare of all Owls consisting of insects, small or large mammals and birds according to the size and strength of the different species (of Owl). The Fish Owls subsist mainly on fish though they kill other prey a well. All have broad rounded heads, flattened faces, and large eyes directed forwards which give the bird a fearful expression and a fixed gaze as it were (cf. farger below). The are powerful and furnished with sharp, curved and cutting claws of great grasping power and it is with these that Owl secures its food (raft). The plumage is soft and downy enabling the bird to fly almost noiselessly. 2. The Indo-Aryans regarded the hooting Owls as birds of ill omen but this apparently did not prevent them from observing the birds and their ways. Early Buddhist monks who travelled widely to propagate the Gospel of Lord Buddha in countries like Kashmir, Tibet and further north used articles of dress like gloves, and perhaps also leggings and shoes, lined with or made from soft feathered-skins of Owls for protection against the bitter cold (see Art. 54). This involved the killing of a large variety of Owls and the people naturally came to know something about them and that perhaps accounts for the naming of individual species Igroups of allied forms of a bird that is rarely seen during the day and has never been kept as a pet. That the ancients made a close enough observational study of these birds may be gathered not only from the works on augury now extant and these difinitely mention earlier authorities-but also from a know- ledge of the reactions of a bird when intruded upon or annoyed at the nest. All Owls hiss and snap their bills fiercely at an intruder and the larger ones quite loudly:- उलूकाकारतां धृत्वा फुत्कारैरतिदारुणैः स्कन्दपुराण, काशीखंड, I.20.48. Some of the larger Owls like the Tawny Fish-Owl occupy the deserted nest of an Eagle for Laying their eggs and bringing up the young. This fact was known to the ancients, to wit, the story of a dispute between a
