456 Sayaça explains the above as follows: Birds in Sanskrit Literature वयः पक्षी साचीव व तियंगिव पक्षी कृत्वा पतीयः पतति, अतिशयेन पतनं elfer........ In a af or oblique flight the bird's wings must assume a different attitude from that in a straight and forward flight. Now the question is which of the above four birds is the af. The Scaup is a very rare visitor to India and must be left out of account. The Goosander, being entirely carnivorous and having a thin, toothed and pointed bill designed for catching fish, is not regarded as a gu but a special kind of (See Nos.24-25 below)., 5.13 almost certainly includes it with birds like the Cormorant and Darter in the comprehensive expression" "-'all birds that catch fish by diving'. That leaves us with the White-eyed Pochard and the Garganey. The former is the fearge, which is a very old name since it occurs as an alternative reading, though incorrect for मल्लिकाव्य in अमर, वैजयन्ती, itself, and other lexicons. What is more, it does not identify gearf: with it. Further, the Pochard "gets off (the water) badly, fluttering about and rising very obliquely" but the Garganey "rises quicker off the water, getting up obliquely" and is really a fast flier. This last, therefore, seems to answer best the description of a fast enfa flight given by Sayana. The only mention of the gefer is to be found in the तैत्तिरीय संहिता: आदित्ये हंससाचि:- 5.5.20. where affer is the Sky-goddess and the Garganey or the Blue winged Teal having a fast flight and some blue on the wings would seem to have commended itself to the author of the Samhità as a bird having some esoteric connection with the sky. 16. The Shoveller (20") is a beautiful Duck, the male having a shining dark-green head and neck. It occurs singly or in small parties on dirty ditches, village ponds and weedy jheels. The peculiarly spatulate or shovel-like bill, very much broader towards the tip than at the base, is specific. It is known as farger in Hindi and in Sanskrit from its habit of frequenting ditches and pools (ra): दिदृक्षुरन्तः सरसीमलध्यं यत्खातहंसः समुदीक्ष्य वप्रम् । सस्मार नूनं दृढकौञ्च कुञ्ज - भागच्छिदो भार्गवमार्गणस्य ।। -जानकीहरण, 1.5. The reference to a has misled the annotator to translate mag as a Swan but the pocet certainly knew better than to place the nobler Swan or Goose in a ditch or moat. He knew not only the habits of the Shoveller but also the fact that, being one of our winter visitors, it caine accross the Hiinalayas and therefore through the traditional gear and would return Swans, Geese, Ducks and Mergansers home the same way. It is this memory of the familiar passage which the poet has attributed to the bird and made it think of the arrow of Parashuram to cut a hole through the high city-wall. 457 Newton describes in his Dictionary of Birds the peculiar habit of the Shoveller, a surface-feeder, "as swinging round in circles with its bill in the water above the spot where Pochards are diving and feeding beneath, and sifting out the substances that float up when disturbed by the operation of the diving Ducks." This peculiar habit and the shape of its bill would justify the Sanskrit name of rare (r, churning) for 'a kind of bird' as specific for it: खजाक: स्यात्पुंसि दघ्नो विकारे विगान्तरे - पेरुसूरि, उणादि, 4. 68& शब्दकल्पद्रुम are also means 'a ladle or spoon' so that the Duck answers to the name in both senses, the 'churning rod' typifies its feeding habit and the 'spoon' its bill broad at the tip. Even at other times it feeds by moving its bill in the water from side to side like the Spoon-bill Stork which also the name would apply, and the two would be age and respectively (see Art 81). The Bengali naine खतामुखी (खता spade; पंतामुखी in F.B.I seems to be an error) for the Duck is the same as are. Ta 17. The Marbled Teal (18.5") is a resident Duck wherever found but is most common in Sind and less so in the Punjab, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh. It seldom shows itself in open water and keeps to and feeds in reeds, swampy vegetation, lily-beds, etc. It is known in Sind as and is obviously the क्षयि हंस defined by वैजयन्ती as a bird of the lily-beds: "क्षविस्तु कुबलायिकः ". उणादि भोजीयानि Pt. 2 gives this name but M. Williams has perhaps omitted it as a corrupt reading. The name is from fer-2, to live in an undisturbed or secret place (M.W.). 18 & 19. The Nyrocinae subfamily of Ducks, which includes the Pochards, consists of diving Ducks many of which feed on deep-water plants, roots,etc. and are often known as ger (divers) in Hindi. Sansk. #f (fr. to dive or sink under water), perhaps rendered incorrectly as the 'female Sarus' (which never dives) by M. Williams, should be a common name for these diving Ducks just as , from the same root, de- notes the Darter; cf. also the phrase "fr" in 1, 5.13 referring to birds like the Cormorants, Darter, Goosanders, etc. all of which dive. for their fish-food. These Ducks as a class are also the age (lily-root (eaters) of कल्पद्वकोश. The Red-crested Pochard with a red bill (21*) is सालचोंच (रक्तचञ्चु) and लालसिर or रंगपुड़िया (रक्तशीर्ष, रक्तमूर्द्धन्) while the Pochard or Dun-bird with a blackish bill (18") is simply afer in Hindi and both would therefore share the name of td with the Pink-headed Duck in Sanskrit with probably as an additional epithet for the former, the Red-crested Pochard. The Dun-bird may also be
