Birds in Sanskrit Literature rice and wheat in India. Occasionally, however, they also feed in shallow water. Except on shorter flights when they "bunch", they normally fly in V-formation or in long lines. Out of the breeding season, i.e., when they visit India in the cold weather, they are thoroughly gregarious and are always seen in small parties or flocks of several hundred birds at a time. Ordinarily they feed in the morning and in the evening and return for rest and sleep to sand-banks or sandy churs (islands) of large rivers, jheels or lakes with some bird on the watch and some always on the water. They differ from the Ducks in that the sexes are alike and the male assists the female in the duties of rearing the young. 2. They are commonly divided into two groups, the Grey and the Black Geese. Of these latter only the Red-breasted Goose is occasionally found in India at the present day, though it may have been more common a thousand years ago. It is black above, including the head and neck, and chestnut and black below. It is probably the कालहंस of बुद्धघोष in संयुत्त निकाय, 277. The Grey, Geese, on the other hand, are much more common in India and of these the most important and numerous are the Grey Lag and the Bar-headed Goose. As regards numbers, however, five Bar-heads. visit India to every Grey Lag and "taking upper India as a whole this (the Bar-head) enormously outnumbers all the other species of Geese put together," and "as for all the rest of the Geese, they are apparently so. rare that when one comes to consider numbers they are not worth speaking about" (Hume & Marshall in The Game Birds India, Burma and Ceylon). According to the same authorities the loud trumpet calls of a flight of Grey Lags high up in the air are very sonorous and musical while the notes of the Bar-heads are distinct from those of the other and are sharper, harder, less sonorous and more strident. The voices of the two are easy to differentiate. Moreover the two species never mingle companies, and always keep at some distance-flying, feeding, resting or swimming, always a little apart. The Bar-head is a lighter built, more graceful and more active bird than the other. It is also of a much lighter colour and has more white in its body plumage. The ancient Indians could certainly not have been unaware of these striking differences and must have named the two species differently. It is necessary to stress this point because according to a majority of the lexicons and mean one and the same thing although the two species are differentiated in Sanskrit literature and also in Hindi nomenclature. 436 3. Hindi names for the Grey Lag (much browner than the Bar-head) are करइंस (Skt. कलहंस ), मोगल (मधुगल), सोनाहंस (cf. Pali सुवण्ण हंस for a young Swan in brown plumage), राजहंस and धितराज (Skt. धृतराष्ट्र). The first name is after the bird's sonorous call-note and the second its brown colour. The last is. 1. बुद्धघोष enumerats six varieties of Ducks, Geese and Swans हरित तंब, खीर, काल, पाक after the colour of the plumage. The first two are for Ducks, the next two for Geese and the last two for Swans. and Swans, Geese, Ducks and Mergansers 437 and an adaptation from ard for the Whooper Swan. Both विश्वप्रकाश give धृतराष्ट्र for 'a kind of bird in close proximity with धार्तराष्ट्र :- धार्तराष्ट्र: कौरवेऽहौ कृष्णास्यावधि सितच्छदे हेमचन्द्र धृतराष्ट्र सुराशि स्यात् पक्षिक्षत्रियभेदयोः– विश्व Evidently, therefore, stands for a bird other than the Swan, and when we find the Grey Lag actually going under the name of fua its identity with your of the lexicons becomes fairly certain. other words the Grey Lag would seem to have been regarded as smaller edition of the young Whooper after the former's brown plumage and sonorous call. It is also called from its size. The Bar-head, on the other hand, is known in Hindi as करेइ हंस (fr. केरव हंसे under कैरव in शब्दकल्पद्रुम and शब्दार्थ- चिन्तामणि) बिरुवा हंस (fr. विराविन् after its harsher call?), and राजहंस. This last name is again by way of substitution for the original , viz., the Chinese Swan with deep red bill and orange legs the Bar-head is of a much lighter colour and a more graceful build than the Grey Lag and has yellow or orange bill and legs. The name are for a ge in reftarar and equated with ging and M. Williams can only refer to the Bar-head Goose with a conspicuously ur i.e. wr body. The adult Grey Lag (32"), heavier than the Bar-head, is, generally. speaking, a grey-brown bird with fleshy-pink bill and feet. Its breeding grounds are in Europe, Persia and Eastern and Northern Afghanistan. It is, therefore, very common in the North-West of India but working East it occurs in smaller numbers. A majority of those visiting India are, how- ever, the young of the year and these are far less marked underneath and are nearly white on the lower parts as compared with the adults. This fact is well worth noting as it not only explains the description ofge, during flight high up in the air, as white, e.g. in :- यासां व्रजद्भिः शितिकण्ठ ! मण्डितं । नभो विमानः कलहंसपाण्डुभिः ॥ भागवत, 4.3.12. but to a certain extent also the confusion of within the lexicons, The other Grey Geese like the Bean Goose, the Pink-footed and the White- fronted Goose that occur in very small numbers resemble the Grey Lag so very closely that they are very hard to tell apart in the field. The name and description of age would, therefore, apply to them all पक्षैराधूसरेहंसा: कलहंसा इति स्मृताः- हलायुध. The adjective आधूसर (आ समन्तात् धूसरवर्ण :) means 'mainly brown all over which is perfectly true of the Grey Geese except the Bar-head which is generally of a pale grey colour and has more of white in its plumage than the others. The name for the Grey Lag is particularly appropriate as, of all the Grey Geese, its call-note is the most sonorous " ध्वनिना विशिष्टो हंसः" शब्दकल्पद्रुम. It is therefore the फलकण्ठ हंस of M.W. and
