226 Birds in Sanskrit Literature clear drawn out plaintive cry as a call of recognition (Smythies). This call is the agaar (sweet voice) of the bird so cheering and welcome to its keeper. Stuart Baker also records his personal experience regarding a pair of Serpent Eagles kept by him. They would recognize their master from high up when they were still invisible to the human eye, and come down with their screaming calls and actually alight on his shoulder (see also the article on Falconry in Ency. Brit. 11th and 14th editions). The mean- ing of aar as explained above is greatly strengthened by the accept- ed sense of the term agrare for the welcome sound of the wheels of a wagon returning home laden with the barley crop in wa. ., 5.4.5.22 (see also Eggling's trans. in the S.B.E. series). That the voice. of such a bird is appreciated elsewhere may be seen in names like the "Singing Hawk" or "Chanting Falcon" for an African bird. Finally, like the name (wise or clever), the name ger of the MBh. list corres- ponds to and may well refer to this Falcon. that 8. The Shaheen Falcon (18"), a very close relative of the preceding, is the best indigenous and breeding bird of India. Its breeding places on the cliffs in different parts of the country have been known to the people from time immemorial (Jerdon). It is a darker bird than the Peregrine, the head being almost black, and the under parts more rufous. The defini- tion of the नीलच्छद श्येन quoted from कल्पद्रुकोण in support of the Peregrine would seem to be equally applicable to it. In a state of nature it preys upon a variety of game birds including Pigeons and Quails, but it is partial to Paroquets. The Peregrine, as we have seen, prefers water-birds but the most important difference between the habits of the two when the hungry Peregrine wends its way to a Crow-colony in the evening the Shaheen turns to the bats in similar circumstances. Despite the admit- ted superiority of the former the Indian falconers have always shown a preference for the latter (Shaheen) and they train it for what is known as the "standing gait" and is not slipped from the hand like the Peregrine i.e. when released it keeps circling high in the air over its master and party, and as the game is started it makes its stoop with amazing speed, faster than an arrow, which is a very sure and deadly way of hunting. 9. It is known as in Hindi and (Jowalum? in F.B.I. due to a phonetic error perhaps, and there are many such errors in recording the Indian names of birds) in Telugu. कुही may be from (i) कुहू-विस्मापने, because when domestic Pigeons are flown high for their daily exercise it frequently appears suddenly over them to the great consternation of the Pigeon-fancier, or (ii) by direct substitution of Sansk. g (fog) as a synonym for धूमीका (v.l. धूमिका) : धूमिका स्यान्नभोरेणुपर्यायाऽपि कुहीति च – कल्पद्रुकोश. If, as is more probable, the second explanation of the name is correct, it would be purely a Sansk. name, indicative of the colour or the upper plumage of the Shaheen like the terms नीलच्छद and घूमीका. The name कपोत of Eagles, Falcons and Allied Birds 227 the MBh. list may well refer to it after its small size, bluish colour, and the habit of killing Pigeons. Like its elder cousin, the Peregrine, it was trained to kill a variety of birds including even such large ones as the Sarus and other Cranes: कुह्या मोक: सारसेऽथ क्रौञ्चे रौद्ररसावहः सपक्षयोः पर्वतयोरिव यताउनुधावनम् ॥ निपत्य नखराक्षेप करकेकारकूजितम् परावृत्योग्रचञ्च्या च प्रहारो रौद्रसङ्गरः ॥ श्ये. शा. 6.35-36 The reference to the Crane's counter-attack with its bill is interesting. 10. The Laggar (19") is one of the commonest Falcons of India frequenting dry open country and areas adjoining cultivation. Dark to is not difficult of grey brown above and predominantly white below identification in the field specially as pairs are seen together. An important feature about the bird is that nearly always it hunts in pairs. English 'Laggar' is derived from the Hindi and are for the female Falcon. The male goes l the name of झगर in Hindi from झकटकं झगड़ा dispute, because a pair when attacking a quarry in co-ordination appear to be carrying on a dispute as it were. The लग्न and लङ्गण of मानसोल्लास should be the female and male respectively of this bird as Hindi and Sansk. are from root to adhere, and, if not the same as , may be a South-Indian variant of used for the male Falcon. The second Hindi name and even at may also have something to do with Vedic (,,? speedy, hence a Falcon Vedic Index, where at, swift is suggested as an alternative) -रघट लघट लग्पड़ लगढ़-लगर; Telugu लगढ़ for this Falcon also points in the direction of -. Sansk. ere, for a handy missile, seems to be an allied word. 4 is one of the bird-names in the following verse : या सुपर्णा आङ्गिरसीदिव्या या रघटो विदुः । वयांसि हंसा या विदुर्याश्च सर्वे पतविणः ॥ AV. 8.7.24. Derived as suggested above the name is comparable with fas descriptive of the quick action of a warrior and a Falcon : शैनेयः श्येनवत् संख्ये व्यचरल्लघुविक्रमः । -MBh. 7.120.36. We thus have and probably as Sanskrit names for this Falcon The Luggar and his mate usually hunt together with complete coopera- tion between them as already stated, and the following simile pictured after a pair of Falcons or Eagles (t) acting together against a common objective is fully reminiscent of the behaviour of a pair of these Falcons or some Eagle : 1. कलहं झकटर्क-com. on यशस्तिलकचम्पू, p. 357. 2. Per Bloomfield in Hymns of the Atharvaveda, p. 43.
