310 Birds in Sanskrit Literature Amongst the visitors the commonest and the most numerous are the Com mon and the Demoiselle Cranes. They are powerful fliers and form into huge flocks before moving from their breeding grounds in Central Europe and Central and Northern Asia and again on their return journey from India. They arrive in India in September-October and leave by March- April. "The observer who is favourably situated will hear one morning a loud clanging call (of the common crane) and looking towards the sound will see in the distant sky a vast tangled skein of birds. As it approaches it resolves itself into an immense concourse of Cranes flying at a tremendous height. The stream of birds travels across the sky like an army.... As they go a single bird trumpets answered by others" (Whistler). The flight is generally in the form of open V-formation which was the model for the कौम्वव्यूह of ancient Indian military science. They walk in a stately manner and "are lively and cheerful to a degree, devoted to their mates, and addicted to social amusements and athletic exercises, in the way of dancing and running and playing with sticks when on the ground. ... They display much affection for the young, and are easily. tamed, often becoming very affectionate" (F. Finn). The great white or Siberian crane arrives in much smaller numbers and is fairly common in N. W. India and is found as far east as Bihar. The Hooded crane from Japan and Eastern Siberia is a rare visitor to Assam. The Black necked crane is canfined to the Himalayas (Ladakh, Tibet etc.) while the Burmese Sarus is found in Eastern Assam. 3. The following information (A) and lexical synonymies (B) bear- ing upon their Sanskrit nomenclature may be considered before setting out a brief description of the different species and allocating the appropriate name or names to each : A. कोच, पुष्कराहव, and सारस for three different species of Crane, and मृणालकण्ठ for the flamingo, are included in the list of प्लवा: or water birds in चरकसंहिता, कोच पुष्कर, कुरर and सारस, as above, in पराशरस्मृति quoted by भट्टोत्पल in his commentary on बृहत्संहिता, 85.28. कुरर and सारस as above, listed with other water-birds by पालकाप्य in ch. 13, p. 198 where मृणालग्रीव refers to the flamingo. महाको B (i) "क्रुझ कोच:"-अमर, वैजयन्ती, अभि. चिन्तामणि (ii) (a) "कुरर: खरशब्द: क्रुङ् क्रौञ्चः पंक्तिचर खरः। --राजनिघण्टु 1. क्रौञ्चानां खेगतिर्यादृक् पंक्तितः सम्प्रजायते । तादृक् सञ्चारयेत् क्रौञ्चव्यूहं देशवलं यथा ॥ शुक्रनीतिसार, 4.7.279. Eagles never fly in formation and श्येनव्यूह is the arrangement of an army in the shape of an Eagle on the wing. Cranes (b) "अथाउपस्वर: क्रो: स्यात्पंकिचरः पुनः । शरत्पक्षी वऋचश्व रक्तको राविजागर: । शेवलाद: पुण्डरीकनयनः ।" -- फल्पद्रुकोश (c) "क्रोध: शरहि कुररपक्षिणि"-- शब्दार्थचिन्तामणि (iii) (a) "कर्करेटु: करेटुः स्यात्”–अमर. (b) "कर्करेटु: करेटु: स्यात् करटुः कर्कराटुक:"-अभि. चिन्तामणि (iv) (a ) "पुष्कराह्नस्तु सारस:"-अमर. (b ) "सारसस्तु लक्ष्मण: स्यात् पुष्काराख्यः कुरः । ' सारसे दीर्घजानुकः गोनों मैथुनी कामी श्येनाख्यो रक्तमस्तकः ।" - अभि. चिन्तामणि (c) "सारसस्तु कलाङ्कर: गोनर्द: " (d) "कुरङ्करः पुष्कराह्न: " -विकाण्डशेष - हारावली 311 (e) “अथ लक्ष्मणसारसी लक्ष्मणो रसिकः कामी काकुवाक् कामिवल्लभः । नीलकण्ठः पुष्कराह्रो ।"-कल्पद्रुम (f) "सारसो रसिक: कामी नीलामो भणितारवः" (मणितारक: -- M.W.) “नीलकण्ठो रक्तनेन: काकुवाक् कामिबल्लभः ॥” –राज निघण्टु - धन्वन्तरि 4. The information brought together in section A of the last paragraph shows that at least four different varieties of Crane have been recognized in literature, viz., कञ्च, पुष्कराहब, (v.1. पुष्कर, पुष्कराख्य), सारस, and कुरर. These are actually the best known members of the family since the others are of rare occurrence and have not been known to visit India during recent times. The attention of classical poets and dramatists has been chiefly confined to two of the commonest, the Common Crane and (8) "सारसः सुस्वर व नीलाङ्गश्चितकन्धरः । रक्ततुण्डो रक्तनेवो रक्तपादोऽस्रवल्लभः ॥३ 1. कलानां कामकलानां अबू रो उद्भवो यन-फलाहकुर, as the Sarus Couple is known to indulge in love-dance and sport as a preliminary to consummation. This is at the bottom of other poetic epithets like कामी, कामिवल्लभ, काकुवाक् and रसिक for the सारस is the breeding crane of India. alone as 2. Compare मणिबीज for the pomegranate fruit with red seeds. मणितारक (having red-eyes, रक्तनेव) for the Sarus is out of place in Verse 120 at p. 331 of कल्पद्रुकोश where the text has suffered mutilation as at other places. 3. In this synonymy the epithets सुस्वर चित्रकन्धर (having a painted or beauti- ful neck), रक्तनेत्र and रक्तपाद hold true of the Sarus Crane while रक्ततुण्ड, रक्तपाद and अखवल्लभ (blood i.e. fBesh-loving) would seem to refer to the beautiful white stork which looks like a Small White Crane and feeds on frogs, mice, lizards, etc. It has evidently been regarded as a kind of Sarus and included here. No Crane has a red bill. The legs of the Sarus and the Great White Crane are merely of a pink colour and it is doubtful how far they can be described as रक्तपाद whereas the white stork has a blood-red bill and red legs and feet, the eyes brown. For Storks sce Art. 81.
