344 Birds in Sanskrit Literature 2. 42. 32ff. No bird of the Goose family is known to eat eggs in a state of nature and it is probable that some egg-eating Gull like the Great Black- headed Gull has been called a gw in a mystic (2) or etymological sense of हिनस्तीति हंसः, and some old commentator perhaps rendered this हंस of story correctly by the local vernacular term of , a Gull. The lexico- grapher would then seem to have picked up the term as a Sanskrit feminine form and rendered it back as हंसी. The Gulls as a class, we have seen, are of great help in maintaining the cleanliness of the waters and the surrounding areas by making a clean sweep of all dead and putrid animal matter and it has also been pointed out that some particular species are of particular service to humanity by destroying large quantities of harmful worms and insects which if allowed to multiply unchecked would produce famine in the country, and history records how at one time the people of the State of Utah in North America would have suffered grievously but for the timely help rendered to them by the California Gulls and how they expressed their gratitude to these wonderful birds: "That at least one community has not been unmindful of the substantial debt it owes the Gull is attested in Salt Lake City, where stands a monument surmounted by bronze figures of two Gulls, erected by the people of that city 'in grateful remembrance' of the signal service rendered by these birds at a critical time in the history of the community. For three consecutive years-1848 to 1850-black crickets by millions threatened to ruin the crops upon which depended the very lives of the settlers. Large flocks of California Gulls came to the rescue and devoured vast numbers of the destructive insects, until the fields were entirely freed from them. It is no wonder that the sentiment of the people of Utah, as reflected through their laws, affords Gulls the fullest protection" (Birds of America, 1. 38). In India, also we have the Black-headed and the Brown-headed Gulls who follow the cultivator's plough, gobble up all the pernicious vermin exposed in the furrows and thus render a great service to us, and one would not be surprised if the Vedic Aryans too were fully conscious of their services and left a still more lasting memorial of their gratefulness to them. 69 TERNS 1. A tern in general outline is an altogether more gracil, more beautiful but a smaller edition of a Gull.¹ Unlike the latter it ha straight but thinner and more pointed bill, long pointed wings, and many species a deeply forked tail. In size they range from ten to twentoches in length. They have a beautiful plumage, black on the head and i, pearl to ashy- grey on the upper and white on the lower parts. Bilegs and feet are often red. They are as noisy as the Gulls but unlike em again they exclude offal and garbage from their dietary and live may on small fish, sand-eels, crustacea and insects. They are very active al seem to have a ceaseless flight which is buoyant, fast, easy and excengly graceful. They are "among the most beautiful of God's creature The beauty of their form is perfect. Their shape is a dream of comeline and their move- ments are the poetry of motion. Wherever there is a river lake in India, there you will see Terns. You cannot mistake a Tern; thim white body, the long racing wings, the easy flight and the freqs descent to the water are a combination of characteristics peculiar these feathered exquisites" (Douglas Dewar). 2. They nest, as a rule, in large or small colonies orad-banks along the larger rivers and the sea-coast, the nests being merillows scraped in the sand. We can form some idea of the reasons behisthis communal breeding if we recall the well known fact that people e particularly stimulated when working in cooperation in various ds like sports, community dances, social activities, war, etc. and in timsf danger group consciousness helps to create confidence and a sense security, and ensures ultimate success of an undertaking. Applying is analogy to social birds like the Flamingos, Terns and others it wotleem that the presence of large numbers on their breeding ground as the effect of 1. The reader is requested to read the first two paras of the meding article. 2. Compare the name आति (अत्-सातत्यगमने: one thi constantly on the move) for the allied form, the Skimmer. It is more than prols that arfer of the Rgveda meant a Tern as well as the closely allied Skimmer. The is discussed in the next article.
