356 Birds in Sanskrit Literature. the Ruddy Goose resting on the water elsewhere; beautiful young ladies singing in the shade on the bank, and the Skinimer sporting over the clear waters complete the picture :- हंसैलब्धप्रशंसैस्तरलितकमलस्रस्तरङ्गस्तरङ्गः । नीरैरन्तर्गभीरैश्चपलबककुलत्तासलीनैश्च मीनैः ।। •पालीरुङद्रुमालीतलसुखणयितस्त्रीप्रणीतैश्च गीतैः । भाति प्रक्रीडदातिस्तवसलिलचलच्चक्रवाकस्तडागः ॥ सुभाषित, p. 220, 19 71 PLOVERS 1. Plovers are round-headed and short-billed birds of open meadows and sandy ground, not resorting to cover. They range in size from a small Quail to a Dove, have rather long legs and walk and run freely on the ground. They have no hind toe or only a rudimentary one and are, therefore, unable to perch on trees. A majority of them undergo seasonal changes. of colour-pattern and, being winter-visitors to the country, their identi- fication from distance is a matter of some difficulty, and yet quite a number of them have Sanskrit names based on some physical character- istics and the nature of their call-notes. 2. The Little Ringed Plover (6.5"), the smallest member of the group, is सर्षपी (fr. सर्षप mustard, indicative of its small size and rolling or tripping movement on the ground) and खञ्जनिका (खञ्जन इव आचरति शब्दार्थचिन्तामणि, or a little Wagtail') from the black band below the white collar and the habit of running nimbly in short spurts along sand-banks and edge of the water. Its smart, neat and trim appearance has won for other pretty names like fe and fathe Little Princess'. Its larger allies, e.g. the long-billed Ringed Plover of Nepal must naturally share the above names with it. The synonyms in far and great for these birds and the Pratincoles have been considered in Art. 65. 3. The Red-wattled Lapwing (13") with its well-known call of 'ti-tee- tee-it' or 'did he do it' is the most familiar of resident Indian Plovers while the allied form, the Yellow-wattled Lapwing (10.5") is less common. The Spur-winged Plover, (12") also has a 'did-he-do-it' call. These are undoubtedly the fefe of art and other lexicons. af however is a different bird according to ,, etc., but it has been equated with feefew and other birds by others. An attempt must, therefore, be made to clear the confusion if possible.
- Because of this black band the Ringed Plover indirectly shares the epithet of
with the , a White Wagtail, and as it is smaller than a Wgtail it has been called खजना or खञ्जनिका-खज्जनः बज्जरीटे, स्त्री सर्वप्यां, खज्जनं गतौ मेदिनी. The gram- matical ferninine often indicates the small size of an object-- स्त्री स्यात् काचिन्मृणाल्यादि- विवक्षापचये यदि अमर 3.5.7.
