Birds in Sanskrit Literature The Red-billed Chough, known in England as the 'Red-legged Crow', has vermilion-red bill and legs while its cousin, the Yellow-billed Chough, is characterized by a yellow bill but vermilion legs. Both are very social. and noisy birds, haunting human camps and the wilds alike. They nest on rocky cliffs and are found throughout the Himalayas from 5,000 ft. in winter to 16,000 ft. above the sea level in summer. 10 2. If the adjective पर्यंत in पर्वतकाक is in apposition to अरण्य or वन in अरण्य for the Jungle Crow as also to the plains of the Punjab and or Uttar Pradesh next below the Himalayas, the name belong to these denizens of the Himalayas. In any Crows designated as aar: in the story related Mahabharata, 6.6, 14-15. Here the Vulture, u, proud of his noble descent from the great , regrets that Mount Meru does not observe any distinction of high and low, and offers equal hospitality to the mean Crows merely because they too, like him, have gold on their bodies, and decides, there- fore, to quit the place permanently :- विहगः सुमुखो यस्तु सुपर्णस्यात्मजः किल । सर्व विचिन्तयामास सौवर्णान् वीक्ष्य वायसान् ॥ मेरुरुत्तममध्यानामधमानां च पक्षिणाम् । अविशेषकरो यस्मात्तस्मादेनं त्यजाम्यहम् ॥ a may well. case they are the Now is the Black Vulture with red head and neck (Art. 51) and the Golden Crows are indeed the Coughs with red or golden bills and red feet contrasting beautifully with their glistening black plumage. They occupy the central Himalayas while the Black Vulture does not rise higher than the and lower ranges and is quite at home in the plains below. The story hical explanat of these facts of nature and gives us the beautiful name of सुवर्ण for the Choughs. thus a 3. The Red-billed Chough (17.5") with its fiery looking, conical, and pointed bill reminds one of the age or -red-billed Crows-who torture sinners in hell according to statements in some of the Puräņas :- लोहतुण्डश्च काकोलः हन्यमानः सुदारुणः आप्लुत्याप्लुत्य दुर्दष्ट्रकाकोलंः लोहतुण्डकैः भक्ष्यन्ते कृमिभिः तीक्ष्णैः लोहतुण्डैश्च वायसैः Padma P., Uttara Kh. 250, 13 Sk. P., Kasi Kh. 5, 75 Śiva P. 5. 9, 11 1. atacar. lit. the beautifully coloured bird. We thus have gf for gold and red- ochre, and gaf for turmeric, while the female lac-insect has been described fi golden, after the light orange red of the body and the rich red fluid it contains in AV 5.5. See Lac and the Lac Insect in the Atharva-Veda by the author (The International Academy of Culture, Nagpur, 1950). Crows and their Allies 11 The name is fully justified for these birds as they are as black as the Jungle or Carrion Crow. We thus have the following three types of te or jet-black Crows - (i) काकोल – the Jungle and Carrion Crows; (ii) लोहतुण्ड काकोल— the Red billed Chough; (iii) आसुर काकोल- the Raven. 4. The authors of the above Purāņas must have visited sacred places like Amarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, etc., in the Himalayas and seen the Choughs which are common in those parts. The Yellow-billed bird is comparatively small (16") and his ineffective looking yellow bill has helped to exempt him from Satanic duties in hell, but if by any chance. his services were needed, one may be sure, he would have been summoned under the name of स्वर्णतुण्ड काकोल C. NUTCRACKERS The Nutcrackers are smaller than the House-Crow being about 15 inches in length. They have a chocolate-brown plumage with head and neck streaked white, and back and breast marked with oval white drops. The Larger-spotted Nutcracker is the darker bird, more profusely marked with white than the Himalayan Nutcracker. The former occurs from Kashmir to Sikkim and the latter from Nepal eastwards. As the name indicates, they subsist largely on the seeds of the pine, cedar, fir, spruce, etc., also fruits and insects. Names like fa-, -, and -() are given merely as synonyms for a Crow in some of the lexicons but they clearly belong to these fruit- eating and spotted members of the Crow family. () is the spotted deer and af the (spotted) leopard, and these help to fix the identity of the birds as above. M. Williams does not mention all the birds that go under the name of a but the Hindi Sabda-sågara gives it for a Crow as well. The greferater para. 213, gives af towards the end of its bird- list where bats and some insects are named and it is therefore doubtful how far the name aft corresponds to fra of M. Williams. It is however quite probable that the name af is shared by animal, bird and insect having spotted bodies or wings. D MAGPIES Magpies are an interesting group within the Crow family some species of which occur practically throughout India and some are confined 1. The art art of Mahavyutpatti Kosa, 2.15.21 is no other than the er and clearly points to these names being specific. The substitution of अवस for लोह must be taken in the sense of copper-red.
