208 Birds in Sanskrit Literature अतीव हृष्टाः श्वसृगालवायसा, बकाः सुपर्णाश्च वृकास्तरक्षवः । -महाभारत' तान् सुपर्णाश्च गृधाश्र कर्षयन्त्यसमुक्षिताः । Ibide The Imperial and the next two Eagles breed on trees and any of them, more probably the first, is one of the "af" of the Rgveda. The Golden Eagle also breeds occasionally on trees. (iii) The Steppe Eagle is a uniform brown to umber brown bird, a few inches smaller than the Imperial Eagle. He is a winter visitor to North India but has been known to breed in India. His habits are very similar to those of the Imperial Eagle and is, therefore, a gf or like him. (iv) The Indian Tawny Eagle is again a uniform brown varying from pale brown to dark-umber, sometimes whitish on the head and body. He is "a fine lordly looking bird and has plenty of courage,...chasing and robbing falcons and hawks of their booty." He goes under the name of रामर in Hindi which is evidently the same as रागपक्षी (jealous of other birds of prey who have secured food) of the fire which equates it with रणपक्षी, and the latter is defined by the धन्वन्तरि कोश and राजनिघण्टु in a half verse common to both रणपक्षी पिच्छवाण: स्थूलनीडो भयङ्करः । The कल्पदुकोश also gives the same description with रणमत्त: for रणपक्षी. पिच्छवाण means a bird whose quills are used to feather arrows with. The epithet e refers to the large nest of sticks and thorny twigs that he makes and wax to his shrill screams and habit of robbing other birds of their prey. It is this last trait which has given him the names रणमत्त ( श्येन), रणपक्षी and रागपक्षी उद्दीपक (one easily excited) as a bird of prey in Maha- bharata, should be this Eagle as the name corresponds to it. Its entry into a residence was considered unlucky : उद्दीपकाञ्च गृधाश्र्च कपोता भ्रमरास्तथा । निविशेयुर्यदा तव शान्तिमेव तदा चरेत् ॥ M.Bh. 13.104.115 He exhibits several traits of the jackal and therefore shares the names and with that animal. See para. 13, section D of this Article. 1. 7.50.9. 2. 11.16.827. 3. RV. I. 164.10 rendered as a kind of bird of prey' by M.W. is incorrect. This 4. The term is based upon a misunderstanding of the following lexical definition:- पक्षिणा येन गृह्यन्ते पक्षिणोऽन्ये स दीपकः ।- -अभि० चिन्ताo and कल्पद्रुकोश, is a pet decoy-bird used to attract wild ones with the object of trapping or killing them. We thus have दीपक कक्कर, दीपक तित्तिर, दीपक मृग, etc. in the जातक and दीपमृग in . The underlying idea is that of a light (fr) attracting moths & insects to itself. Eagles, Falcons and Allied Birds 209 He is much the most common and most widely distributed Eagle of India but is confined to the drier areas. He is a methodical hunter and preys upon small mammals and birds but attacks even larger birds when pressed by hunger. He also freely devours dead animals even when putrid (F.B.I. 2nd Edn). The carrion-eating brown-plumaged and noisy in the following examples is apparently this Eagle - आधोरणानां गजसंनिपाते शिरांसि चक्रेनिशितैः क्षुराम्रैः । हृतान्यपि श्येननखाग्रकोटिव्यासक्तकेशानि चिरेण पेतुः ॥ श्येनपक्षपरिधूसरालका: सांध्य मेघरुधिरार्द्रवाससाः । विभिन्नं धन्विनां बाणैर्व्यवार्तमिव विह्वलम् । ररास विरसं व्योम श्येनप्रतिरवच्छलात् ॥ कुमारसंभव रघुवंश, 7.46 Ibid 11.60 16.12. गृध्राः कङ्का बका: श्येनाः वायसा जम्बुकास्तथा । बहुशः पिशिताशाच तवाऽदृश्यन्त मारिष ॥ महाभारत, 7.97.13. In the last example the first four of the carrion-eaters are Vultures, Pallas's Fishing Eagles, Adjutant Storks, and Tawny Eagles res- pectively. (v) The Greater Spotted Eagle (27") is a dark almost blackish brown bird though in the younger phase the upper back and the smaller wing- coverts are spotted. He is known as fi in North India and as farm in Bengal. The exact meaning of कलिजंग is not clear but it may refer ( कलि-कलहं ) to the bird's wild clanging cry, jeb-jeb-jeb, compared to a high pitched barking of a small dog by Smythies. furre means one who catches living creatures. "This is a rather sluggish Eagle, often sitting for hours on a perch on some lofty tree" (S. Baker). His food consists in great part of frogs though he also catches fish and kills small birds and mammals for food. (vi) The Smaller Spotted Eagle (25") is also a dark chocolate-brown bird differing from the preceding bird in minor details of the body plumage but particularly in the tail which shows some traces of a paler barring while the tail of the Greater Spotted Eagle is merely tipped paler. This Eagle goes by the name of fame in the north corresponding to Sanskrit जीवान्तक or जीवहर (?), a catcher or killer of living things. He is not so lethargic as his larger cousin but otherwise the habits of both are similar. He is however more of a thief and plunderer of other birds and their nests. His call is a "very high-pitched cackling laugh" (S. Baker). The Indian Black Eagle (Section B, para 3) also is in the habit of plundering birds' nests for their young or eggs which reminds one of the powers of observation exhibited by the great a who mentions Eagles that pull out nests of small birds -
