210 क्वचिच्छकुनिकुलकुलायपातिनः श्येनाः । Birds in Sanskrit Literature हर्षचरित, p. 82. (vii) The Lammergeyer or Bearded Vulture, as the seventh Eagle of ancient tradition, has been considered in Art. 51. This completes the of gi, the seven Eagles of India. B. HAWK-EAGLES, SERPENT-EAGLES & BUZZARD-EAGLES 1. "The Hawk-Eagles are birds of more slender build with smaller bills, longer and more slender tarsi, and longer tails than the true Eagles" (F. B. I. 1st. Edn.) but of similar habits and are members of the larger group. Almost all of them kill hares for food in addition to other prey consisting of reptiles and birds. They are the शशघ्नी ( शशाद, शशघाती) of चरक, A young Bonelli's Eagle is brown above and rufous underneath while the adult has umber-brown upper parts and a white body mottled with brown. The Crested, the Changeable, and Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle also have the upper parts umber-brown or brown with a coppery tinge. All these hunt hares, birds, etc. and being of a fairly large size (27-29 inches) they are the शशाद- श्वेन defined by सुरेश्वराचार्य in his वार्तिक on the बृहदारण्यक as a large ruddy-brown bird living on hares - "श्येनः शशादो विज्ञेयो बृहत्कायश्च रोहितः" 4.3.1160, 1 The riffe also in its definition of as are describes the bird as of large size but slow of speed: महाकायो मन्दवेगः इति व्याख्यातार: The truth of this statement is confirmed by H. C. Donald who says that though it is easy to train Hawk-Eagles like the Crested Hawk-Eagle, they do not all come up to what may be expected of such large and powerful birds. On the other hand सायण माधवाचार्य commenting on पराशर संहिता distinguishes the Pigeon-hunting smaller Falcons like the Peregrine and Shaheen (श्येन) from the शशाद : श्येनः कपोतादीन पक्षिणो निहन्ति न तु शशमत्ति अतः श्येनशशादी भिन्नजातीयो Thus we have , for the true Eagles and the Falcons, and for the Hawk-Eagles. It may be stated here that the Hawk included under the narne of शशाद in the list of Falcons in the श्यैनिक शास्त्र, 4.20 is the Female मन्दवेग slow in hunting; f: क्षिप्र श्येन, the Perequine Falcon. 2. Ch. 6.5. Bom. Skt. Series. No. 59; Vol. II. Pt. 1; 1898. Eagles, Falcons and Allied Birds Goshawk trained to capture hares (Section F of this Article). It will be seen that while all शशाद's are श्येन, all श्येन's are not शशाद and to this extent the lexical synonymy of and area is subject to modification, and is right in mentioning (true Eagles) and war (Hawk-Eagles) as different categories in his list of the birds of prey. Some of these we Eagles have specific names as well and they are considered below. 2. M. Williams renders to shine) as a "brown Hawk" and the name clearly implies some peculiar quality of brilliance in the eye of the bird meant. Now the eye of Bonelli's Eagle, whose body- plumage is brown as already described "is peculiarly brilliant and fiery in its glance indicating fierce boldness" (Cassel's Book of Birds). If, on the other hand, the term is rendered as 'round-eyed' it will have no significance as all Eagles and Hawks have round eyes. Ter should therefore be this Eagle. One of the Hindi names for this Eagle is as it often kills Peacocks in nature and the name is from Sank. मयूरघ्नी (Cf. शशघ्नी) which may well have been its name in Sanskrit though not preserved in the lexicons now extant. 211 3. भल्लक and भल्लूक mean a bird of prey as well as the black bear: भल्लूक: प्लवः शकुनिः हिस्रमृगश्च – उणादि, श्वेतवनवासिन् The name for a bird of prey therefore clearly points to the Black Eagle (female, 31", male 27") which is brownish black or black throughout. It is found in the Himalayas in the North and Nilgiris in the South. It is mentioed in the भागवत पुराण “कङ्कगृधवटश्येनभासभल्लुकबहिणः” 1.10.24. It is in the habit of carrying off the nests of small birds and examining them for young or eggs, a trait noticed by are in his . 4. The Indian Crested Hawk-Eagle and Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle possess long crests (free which also means the tail). M. William has af for a 'black-tailed hawk' and the name may refer to these birds after their black crests and as a homonym to the Black-crested Baza with both a black tail and a black crest. The Indian Crested Hawk-Eagle is the बाजराज of श्यैनिकशास्त्र 4.39 corresponding to शाहबाज in Persian. The practice of training the Hawk-Eagles for the chase has been considered in Section F on Hawks. The Changeable Hawk-Eagle is known as शदल (fr. शशादन ? ) in Bengal. 5. The Short-toed Eagle and the Crested Serpent-Eagles in two sizes kill snakes including the poisonous varieties. They are known in Hindi and Bengali as सांपमार and सपंचर which are the same as Sanskrit सर्पोरि, सर्पान्त or art. One carrying off a black cobra is mentioned by - "तावद् गृहीत्वा कृष्णाहि चञ्च्या पादयुगेन च । श्येन: कुतचिदागत्य तरौ तस्मिन्नुपाविशत् ॥-कथासरित्सागर 87.43. The M. Bh. list includes and for types of Eagles and these
