Birds in Sanskrit Literature. (ii) The Kashmir and the Black-rumped Magpies of genus Pica have the head, neck, upper breast, and upperparts black, and the wings are partly white and partly black, brilliantly glossed with blue. The tail also is black with a green and purple gloss. On the whole, therefore, the black colour predominates in their plumage and they should be the कालकूट (काल black) birds of the Himalayan hermitage described in the Matsya Purana :- 14 कुररान् कालकूटांश्च खट्वाङ्गाल्लुब्धकांस्तथा । -118, 50 (iii) The Red-billed and the Yellow-billed Blue Magpies of the Himalayas belong to genus Urocissa and are characterized by very long blue tails measuring 18-19 inches. In these as in others the head, neck and breast are black: the back is purplish blue or ashy; the wings have purplish blue on them; and the lower plumage from the breast downwards is greyish white or lilac-tinged with blue or purple. The long tail accounts for their Hindi name दिग्गदल (दीर्घदल; दल a feather; i.e., long-tailed; cf. er for the long-tailed Paradise Flycatcher, Art. 11). They are clearly the quiz marking the nearest approach to a in shape. The Variants e and given in para. 2 above are Prakritisms of grie. 4. The Green Magpie of genus Cissa differs very considerably in extremal character and plumage from others, and not having a long tail, stands outside the series. Its body plumage is generally green and the wing coverts are red. Bill and legs are a coral red, the former of a deeper colour. Its Sanskrit name is fefer (Parrot-Crow, fr. furft a Parrot) after its red bill and green plumage. It must have been a cage bird in former times as it makes an excellent pet and can be trained to talk. It is known as fefe in Hindi and Bengali which is perhaps a Prakrit form of fefcere. In certain dialects the letter is often replaced by , and by, while in the present instance the nasal has been inserted for the sake of euphony; cf. Hindi for Sansk. for lime-stone nodules. The nasal also helps to maintain the value of the long vowel of the penultimate in ffers. The name occurs in the Southern recension of the Mahabharata :- लवणं चोरयित्वा तु चिरिकाकः प्रजायते । -13. 111, 123; also Brahma P. 217, 108. The Bengal recension reads for which has been identified with the Jackdaw in Section A of this Article. The reason for the punishment also 1. चिरिकाकसिरियाग सिरिगंग-सिरगंग Cr. सञ्चान–चचान, विचान for the Shikra Hawk चर--सरइ a bird; चोखा-सोका rice in corrupt Gujarati; चीर्णपर्ण-शीर्णपर्ण-Azadirachta indica, the Neem tree Sansk. कीर, चिरि and Talegu ff or f for a Parrot appear to be allied forms. Crows and their Allies 15 has been hinted at there. The Jackdaw, no doubt, loves thieving, "still, he is not the champion sneakthief that his first cousin the Magpie is" (Our Bird Book, pp. 64-65). 5. Manu Samphità in its present editions reads ¹ at 12.63 in the same context as the Mahabharata and Brahma Purana, which is evi- dently a wrong reading of ffre. There is ample authority for this presumption, for we find Sayana Madhavācārya quoting Manu, 12, 63 with the reading of चीरोकाक in his commentary on the पराशर धर्मसंहिता publi- shed in the Bombay Sansk. Series, No. 59 (1888), where the learned editor has pointed out in a foot note at p. 254 of Vol. 2, Pt. 2 that two MSS. of the commentary have in the verse in question. It would therefore appear that the writer of the Bengal recension of the Maha- bharata substituted for ff which is also the reading in the . The Verse does not suffer in sense as both the jackbird and the green magpie are noted thieves. On the other hand, it is quite likely that both fufer and for belong to one or the other of the two birds. E. JAYS AND ROLLERS "The Jays are birds of bright plumage, the wing especially being marked with vivid blue. They inhabit woods, have harsh cries, are rather shy, and live on all kinds of food". Two varieties of the bird occur in the Himalayas ranging from 3,500 feet in winter to 8,000 feet in summer. The Black-throated Jay (13") has a black crested head, black wings closely barred with bright blue, vinous grey body and a blue tail barred with black. The Himalayan Jay (12") lacks the black head and crest of the former and is of a rich vinaceous fawn-colour all over including the head. except for a good bit of white both above and below the tail. Both are very noisy and live on fruits, insects, small mammals, birds and reptiles and other birds' eggs. During flight they often indulge, like the Rollers, in wing- flappings and contortions. Their cousin, the Siberian Jay, of the pine forests of Northern Furope and Asia is considered a lucky bird by the people of those parts (the Britannica, 11th Edn). The Rollers have a more plumage, their wings and tail consisting of various shades of blue, from pale turquoise to dark ultramarine, tinted in parts with green. They are, however, entirely insectivorous and also include mice, small reptiles, frogs and harmless snakes in their dietary, and are for this reason placed in the wee group of birds in and. Both the Jays and the Rollers were formerly placed 1. Verse 13 of ch. 44 of the Institutes of Visou (frefer) edited by Jujus Jolly (Calcutta, 1181) read ff in the same context. The original heading of fufe or Twould seem to have been corrupted through scribal error to ar in some copies of मनुसंहिता or विष्णुस्मृति and the error has been repeated and shortened to चीरी in यशवल्क्यस्मृति 5.215.
