60 JACANAS 1. The two species of Jacana found in India are about the size of a Pigeon and entirely aquatic by habit. The Bronze-winged Jacana is of a blackish colour with bronzed back and wings and a stumpy chestunt tail. It is a noisy bird specially when a number of them are together and tripping about lightly on their extraordinarily long toes on lotus leaves and floating vegetation in a tank and they give an impression of having an irritable temper. A flight of them as they move from one part of a tank to another reminds one of a flock of Blue Rock-Pigeons despite a pronounced differ- ence in their mode of lying. It is the जल-कपोत, जल-भारावत or कोपी of the lexicons : जलपारावतः कोपी प्रोक्तो जलपोतक:-धन्वन्तरि, राजनिघंटु Sanskrit कोपी (अवश्यं कुप्पति-शब्दकल्प ) is the same as कोपका of डम्हणाचार्य [incorrect- ly equated by him with feet of g (Jeevanand's Cal. edn.; N. Sagar edn, reads and arg which are incorrect). These names are after the bird's supposed bad teinper and correspond to its Prakrit names like कोमंग को गह, or कोभक पारेवत or पारेपत as a water-bird in बेस्संतर-जातक, verse 2107, the same as are in Sanskrit. I have not met with this bird in litera- ture. Its Bengali name जल-पीपी may be a corruption from जल-कोपी. 2. The Pheasant-tailed Jacana, on the other hand, is a decidedly beautiful bird with a striking plumage of white, gold and brown with a distinctive, long, pointed sickleshaped tail which is often held well above the water in a beautiful curve. The nesting and other habits of this are similar to those of its cousin but in all its actions it is more elegant and has earned the poctical name of "The Little white water-Princess" in English (S. Baker). It has a piping note which is rather pleasant and musical though it has also a mewing call (hence its names and after in Hindi). It is the firafer (fra tail) the long-tailed water-bird or Water-Peacock; cf. the Peacock-Snipe for the Painted Snipe (Art. 61) in Telugu after the ring of white feathers round its eyes, a character shared with the Peacock- (Art. 35) of याज्ञवल्क्यस्मृति प्रायश्चित्ताध्याय 272, where both the ground and the water-Peacocks are prohibited as food: 1. Articles 71 & 82. 2 ओवादय सुत्तं 4 अभियानराजेन्द्र कधी कोण) Jacanas 305 हंसश्येनकपिकव्याज्जलस्थलशिखण्डिनः | Commentator fratre offers a rather curious explanation of the compound जलस्थल शिखण्डिन: which runs as under: "जलशब्देन जलचरा बकादयो गृह्यन्ते स्थलशब्देन स्पलचरा बलाकादयः ( v.l. बकादयः) । शिखण्डी मयूरः ।" He thus renders the word as 'water-birds like Storks and Herons', and er as 'land-birds like Egrets, and separates frufort, Peacocks, from both. In the first place Storks, Herons and Egrets are all water-birds in an equal degree and cannot be separated as proposed, and secondly there is no warrant to interpret the simple terms like and to mean water and ground birds. It is submitted that the correct way to split the compound as wa-fwater and far as noted above. The Pheasant-tailed Jacana goes by the name of जल-मंजोर (? जल-मंजुर) in Hindi whose मंजुर should mean the Peacock (vide F.B.I.). The forms occur in Nepal according to Turner's Nepali Dictionay. wenige is thus the same as or जल-शिखण्डिनु. or for 3. The Pheasants as a group are comprised within the expression after onfe (Art. 55) and most of them are characterised by long tails; and corresponding to the name 'Water-Peacock' we have the name 'Water- Pheasant' as well, viz. el a water-bird' in ge and at p. 198 in . Again, stere in the following examples, descriptions of lake- scenary, can only be the Pheasant-tailed Jacana:- जीवज्जीवलसज्जीव गवणत्कारंडवोत्कटम्कन्दपुराण, काशीखंड, 32.101. एक एव प्रियाहीनो रामोऽस्मि कुसुमागमे । इतीव जीवज्जीवोऽयं विरोति दयितासः ॥ ●उत्फुल्ल विविधविकसिताम्बुजजातिजीवितजीवज्जीवकम् । - रामायण मञ्जरी, 9.1149, -नलचम्पू, 5, above verse 57. अभिधानचिन्तामणि, on the other hand, has mixed up this जीवज्जीव with the चकोर in the following equation: जीवज्जीवस्तु गुन्द्रालो विषदर्शनमृत्युः । Here the first part describes tas par i.e. as a bird that constructs a nest with the Tat veriety of watergrass whereas the wete, which lays it eggs in a hollow in the bare ground, only sometimes lines it with dry leaves and grass but never with the r grass. Both the Jacanas on the contrary make a nest of rushes and water-grass and place it on floating vegetation. offer is therefore the same as afraft and not the चकोर which is supposed to die at the sight of poison (विषदर्शनमूत्युक: Art. 55-c). 1. जीनज्जीव: appears to be a homonym; (i) जीवान शावकान् जीवयति जीवज्जीव the Peacock Pheasantand (d) जीवन जन जीवो जीविका यस्य जीवज्जीनः the Pheasant-tailed Jacana.
