246 Birds in Sanskrit Literature शकुनिस्ते शख्यायै”–वाज. सं० 20.24 as it picks up scraps of food unerringly either from the ground or when thrown up to it in the air-even from the hands of a person carrying eatables in the open. The only other bird possible in the context of the Samhita is the Brahminy Kite who i a past master at taking grasshoppers off the stems of growing rice, and the unerring aim with which it takes off the insect without seemingly so much as touching the stalk is really wonderful. Tut in the imaginary picture below is no other than the Common Kite :- "श्येनावपातमवपत्य पदद्वये माम आदाय धर्ममपरेण करेण घोरा वेगेन सा गगनमुत्पतिता नखाग्र- क्वोटिस्फुरत्पिशितपिण्डयुतेव गृधी" । – प्रबोधचन्द्रोदय 8. The Black-winged Kite (13") is light ashy-grey above with the lesser and median wing-coverts black, and white below. It occasionally hovers like the Kestrel and seen from below it appears to be a pure white bird with black wing-tips. It would therefore appear to be the 4 (white water-lily) of the Mahabharata List. Seen from above or when sitting it is a small black and white Kite but being predominantly white it goes by the name of reft (cotton-white) in Hindi and may well have been known as offer in Sanskrit though this name is nowhere recorded. wf being the larger Pariah Kite and its allied forms fire should be thus the smallest of Kites. M. Williams does not render as a Kite but देशीनाममाला equates Prakrit Kite-names like सउलि (शकुनि) and चिल्ला with शकुनिका; cf. चटक a sparrow, and चटिका or चटकिका a little sparrow. 9. This Black-winged Kite would seem to be the fas a bird of augury in वसन्तराज :- •संमुखी शबलिकाऽथ वामिका श्रेयसी यदि च भास संगता । तद्विशेषशुभदा तु सामिषा यस्य मूनि पतेत्स भूपतिः । - 8.37 fer fear None of the commentators gives any synonym, Sansk. or Hindi for which, however, should not be the Common Pariha Kite since the does not include the ubiquitous Kite (fa, qut or fe) as a bird of augury. Moreover it is only with the rarest of incidents and un- common combinations in bird-behaviour that the choicest of boons, e.g. kingship, can go as a prediction. In above verse the mere sight of fer in certain positions is auspicious, more so in association with w the Scavenging Vulture, but if by any chance it settles on the head of a person, the latter is destined for kingship. Considering everything therefore this black and white Kite should be the wafer of The Common Kite is known as or in Gujarati and if these names are from Sansk. eft, it may be an example of the transference of the name of a rather Eagles, Falcons and Allied Birds uncommon bird to a common and familiar one, for the name ft (pied) would hardly fit the predominantly brown Kite of India. 247 10. The Harriers also known as Field-Kites,' are a well-defined group of Hawks, easily recognized by their flight and appearance. They make nests on the ground or amongst reeds in marshes. They never perch on trees and therefore, roost on the ground for the night, and here, they are sometimes surprised and killed by Jackals. Out of five varieties found in India only two breed in the country and the others are winter visitors. They fly low over the paddy plains, marshes and jheels and buoyantly quarter the ground for hours, poising for a moment almost motionless aloft, or glide in circles to great heights. They prey upon lizards, frogs, insects, mice, young or sickly birds, etc. but are simply incapable of catching even small healthy birds. The Pale and Montagu's Harriers are known as firefer (lizard- killer, Sansk. कुकलासक ?) and पराई (Sansk. पंत्री Hawk), and the Pied Harrier as अबलक पत्तई (शबल पत्नीthe Pied Hawk). These names would seem to show that the term fa, , apart from being a common noun for 'a bird' is also a specific term for a Hawk-like bird, probably the Harriers with and for birds like Montagu's Harrier and the Marsh- Harrier respectively. The significance of the name ft for these Hawks seems to lie in the fact that beyond the powers of sustained flight, i.e. wing- power, they have hardly any claim to recognition as Hawks proper, i.e. as birds fit for the chase. In other words they possess a graceful flight but are absolutely useless for purposes of hawking. In this connection I would recall the fa type of Hawks considered in the preceding Sub-section, "पत्रप्रायाः प्रतिष्ठाना मन्दा बेगे च साहसे"-ये. शा. 4.43 It is thus quite possible that the fa (fr. fast foot, and hence the lowest ? – M.W.) are the पत्नी ("पत्नी श्येने"-हेमचन्द्र) type of Hawks, viz the Harriers defined as पत्रप्रायाः-पत्नाण्येव प्रशस्तपक्षा एव सन्ति अस्य न तु शौर्यम्, a श्येन by appearance but not in action. 11. Reverting to the names and was probable names for some of the Harriers it is interesting to note that they occur with other bird-names in the following verse : हंसकाकमयूराणां कृकलासकसारसाम् । रूपाणि च बलाकानां गृधचक्राङ गयोरपि ॥ MBh. 13.14.145 God fire is supposed to assume at pleasure the forms of the birds named in the verse. Te, a garden lizard, is too mean a creature to be considered in the context and must be understood in the sense of a bird, and the forma- tion of the word is analogous to that of gf (one that takes or kills. sparrows, discussed in the preceding Sub-section) for the Sparrow-Hawks. 1. Compare 'o' in Bengali for the Marsh Harrier. The name means a 'field or medow Kite'.
