448 Birds in Sanskrit Literature. Assam. Some occur in India but of these only eight are permanent residents and the others are with us for a period of about six months-Sept.-Oct. to April. Of these latter again some seven or eight species are rare and a few are only casual visitors or are found in the extreme Eastern part species confine themselves exclusively to tanks and lakes while others prefer rivers lakes. A rough list of these two groups is appended at the end of this section which would help in forming some idea of the sort of birds that are referred to when the stock phrase great is used to describe Lake or River scenery. Some Ducks possess a multi- coloured bright wing-patch, called a 'speculum' which may be rendered as पक्ष-ज्योति in Sanskrit. Ducks as a group go by क्षुद्रहंस or हंसक (Pali चुल्ल हंस) but quite a number of them have also specific names in Sanskrit and these are considered below.. (1) The Comb-Duck, Nukhta, or 'the Black-backed Goose' of Jerdon, is 30 inches long and as large as the Bar-head Goose. It is black above and white below with a white head and neck spotted with black but the most characteristic feature of this Duck is a black, fleshy knob on the base of the bill of the male which becomes greatly swollen during the breeding season and "shrinks up almost to nothing" in winter. This Duck is met within family parties of four to ten birds but flocks of 25 or 30 are also seen. They are strong and rapid fliers, walk and dive well and freely perch on the thicker branches of trees. Their voice is like that of the Goose and when an intruder approaches the nest they utter loud trumpet calls. It occurs in the Punjab but is at present of rare occurrence west of the Sutlej and is found throughout the rest of India except the North and West Sind. The Hindi name for it is e, i.e. 'having the nose cut off' in refer- ence to the great reduction in size of the comb or knob during the non- breeding season, and the name is just a translation of arenfar, the first name in the synonymy-"नासाच्छिन्ना तु पूर्णिका" — विकाण्डशेष, Here the second name, gfire, clearly implies the fuller phase of the comb during the breeding season (cf. a and gre for a young and full-grown bull respectively). The breeding period lasts from June to September and is therefore perfectly correct of poet wryf to mention the bird by the name of gfer in his description of a mid-day scene at the height of the summer season: तीराश्मन्तकशिम्बिचुम्बनमुखा धावन्त्यपः पूर्णिकाः -मालतीमाधव, 9.7. चरक calls it नन्दीमुखी and भावप्रकाश leaves no doubt whatever about the name and its owner: स्थूला कठोरा वृत्ता च यस्याश्चश्व परिस्थिता । गुटिका जम्बुसदृशी ज्ञेया नन्दीमुखीति सा ॥ 449 Swans, Geese, Ducks and Mergansers afe., explaining the Prakrit vife, gives a cryptic and apparently nonsensical definition:- नन्दिमुख–उचङ्गलप्रमाणशरीरके पक्षिविशेषे i.c., a particular bird with a body measuring only two fingures. The an also repeats the above. Evidently an earlier and fuller statement regarding the nature of the bird's bill has been inexpertly condensed by a person who did not know the bird, and the mutilated. version has been thoughtlessly repeated by later lexicographers. Now if we bend our middle finger and place its tip on the back of the fore- finger we have quite an accurate shape of the bill of this Duck-the curved middle-finger representing the swollen knob. This is the idea behind the absurd descrption "द्वघङ्ग लप्रमाणशरीरके". gg has a pair of surgical forceps, named , shaped after the bird's bill and consisting of an upper jaw the fore-end of which rests flat upon the straight lower jaw, forming the gripping part of the instru- ment, while the remaining part of the upper jaw turns up and comes down in a loop (like the shape of the bent middlefinger) near the pin holding the two together. Such a pair of forceps was very useful in extracting or pulling out arrowheads and other missiles from the body. of a warrior which were flat or thin at the lower but thicker at the upper and exposed end. The loop of the forceps would accommodate the thicker part and the tip would grip fast the thinner part and help pulling it out. old 2. The White-winged Wood Duck (32") has a spotted white head and neck, a white wing-patch and a bluish-grey speculum. It is known as ager (fr. fra shining), a purely Sanskrit name, in Assam. The eyes of s are blood-red and the name mga corresponding to t for a kind of g in te should belong to it. The Geese have brown or dark brown eyes and no Ducks have such blood-red eyes except the Goosander which, however, is not looked upon as a gas it does not possess the typical flat bill of one and is entirely carnivorous. It therefore goes by the name of afger (see Nos. 24-25 below). The White- winged Wood Duck, comparable in size to a Goose, is therefore a or देवहंस. 3. The Pink-headed Duck (23") is resident throughout North India and is known as afer in Hindi corresponding to mentioned by in the list of water-birds. It shares this name with some of the Pochards as varieties of g while the Indian Sarus also claims the term as a descriptive epithet to distinguish it from other Cranes (arce). 1. If the name is in contra-distinction to aferer for the White-eyed Pochard, it may well be for the Pochard or Red-crested Pochard both having reddish-brown or reddish- yellow eyes and belonging to the same genus. The Cotton Teal also has crimson-red eyes but it is too small a bird in comparison with others.
