Birds in Sanskrit Literature 20 & 21. The White-eyed Pochard (16") and the Eastern White Eye (18") are closely allied forms and are the aferer g (white-eyed) of literature: 458 एतस्मिन्मदकल मल्लिकाक्षपक्षव्याधूतस्फुरदुरुदण्डपुण्डरीका -मालतीमाधव, 9.14; उत्तररामचरित, 1.31. It is one of the water-birds in a. The call-note of this Pochard is a koor-ker-ker", uttered both when feeding in a lake and when rising. from the water. This agrees very well with the description of the bird as . The alternative reading of fe (the Mute Swan) is incorrect as the epithet is inapplicable to it, for it is a silent bird and utters its soft low call chiefly when pairing (Sanders). Moreover the Swan on the Pampa lake placed in the extreme south of India in fe is an impossibility. fer is, therefore, the correct reading and it means the White-eyed Pochard. The last paragraph of the third of also places the fear on the Pampa lake. 22. The Tufted Pochard (17") has a black head and wears a long pendant occipital crest glossed with purple. It goes by the name of मालक in Nepal and बम्हनियां हंस (fr. ब्राह्मण) in Assam. मालिक (v.J. मालक, one wearing a wreath) is a kind of bird in feft and evidently refers to this. Duck, 1 The Assamese name clearly refers to the bird's long crest resembling a Brahman's fear or top-knot which is often allowed to hang behind the head. पालकाप्य has ब्रह्मपुत्र as a water-bird in हस्त्यायुर्वेद. The शिखा of a Brahman is also known as ब्रह्मपुत्री ("ब्रह्मपुत्री शिखायाम्" शब्दार्थचिन्तामणि) and sage Nārada famous for his शिखा is also ब्रह्मपुत्र The ब्रह्मपुत्र of पालकाप्य is therefore no other than the Tufted Pochard which is found from Sind to Assam. 23. The Smew and the Goosanders are members of the subfamily Merginae consisting of fish-eating Ducks of great diving powers. Their legs are placed far back on the body which makes it very difficult for them to walk. The bill is armed with hard tooth-like serrations which enable the birds to catch and hold fish under water. The male Smew (17") is a beautiful black and white bird with a black patch on either side of the white head and face and the underparts pure white. It often goes under the name of the White Nun in England. It is very common in Sind and fairly so in North India. In Sind it is called ft (a basket) and frgft (Skt. frarft a receptacle) in the Uttar Pradesh. Both the names are analogous to Skt. for 'a basket' and point to 1. fer for a kind of bird in M. Williams would seem to be a mistake as the term means an open semi-circular loop with a horizontal bar at the base serving as a perch for a pet bird tied to it with a ring (on the bird's leg) and chain "पक्षिमल्ले च मालिका" -विश्व and हेमचन्द्र पक्षिमल्ल means a thing ie. a cage that holds a bird'. Swans, Geese, Ducks and Mergansers being the bird's Sanskrit name. Its thin and dark slaty-coloured bill accounts for the name - (crow-billed) in where the name has been correctly rendered as श्वेतकारण्डव by चक्रदत्त, कृष्णकारण्डव being the Coot. The Smew is thus the श्वेत or काकतुण्डक-कारण्डव. It may be noted that the members of this group are not regarded as varieties हंसक or Duck, probably because they are fish eaters. 24 & 25. The Goosander and the Eastern Goosander (25 & 22° respectively) are allied birds. The first is a winter visitor from Northern Europe and Asia, to Sind and the second breeds the Himalayas and visits North India in winter. Both are black above and white below, the white underparts being suffused with a beautiful rosy-salmon colour. The bill and legs are red in both, and from the colour of the bill they are the मणितुण्डक (कारण्डव) of चरक ; cf. fare for the Sarus with red eyes. Both are voracious fish-eaters: "The gorging ended, the birds sit on some sand-bank so full that when disturbed they have to disgorge before moving" (S. Baker), and they probably owe their name or to this habit of gorging them- selves to the neck and thus resembling, so to say, a or fish- basket. 459 The word we means or a sort of Duck, and the sun according to and M. Williams. Evidently it is meant as a descriptive epithet or adnoun for as a particular bird, viz., the Goosander. This is supported by a striking simile in the Rāmāyaṇa where the clear blue sky is pictured as a large placid lake looking beautiful with lilies and birds dotted here and there. The moon (presumably less than full and there- fore above the horizon at sun-rise or sun-set, and not very bright either) is a white lily, the sun, a Goosander, the constellations of Aquila and Cancer, the Bar-head Geese, the star Arcturus, a Swan, the Gemini constellation, a whale; the Mars, an alligator; the mythological Airavata elephant, a large island; and stray clouds, the Saivāla weed in the heavenly lake:-- सचन्द्रकुमुदं रम्यं सार्ककारण्डवं शुभम् । तिष्यश्रवणकादम्बम श्रश्वालशाद्वलम् ॥ -5.57.2-4. Ther of this picture can only be the Goosander with white under- parts suffused with pink, red bill and red legs, described elsewhere as the 'golden' rv. No other member of the group would be appropriate. We thus have two names for the Goosanders, मणितुण्डक and भसत्-कारण्डव. 1 Similarly epithet तरतु for a कारण्डव in विश्वप्रकाश refers to these birds after their quick movements on water when fishing or sporting as described 1. The Goosanders can be were in a different sense as well if the term is derived from root w to chew with the jaws or teeth as the bills of these birds are particularly well armed with toothed serrations to enable them to catch fish. The name would then mean the 'gorging or glutton Duck' but the quotation from the Ramayana seems to negative this suggestion.
