460 Birds in Sanskrit Literature by S. Baker: "They seem to be equally at home in the deep slowly-moving pools or in the wildest torrents and it is a most beautiful sight to see a party of these birds playing in either kind of water." They fish forming a wide semi-ring and although "the birds dash hither and thither, both on and under water, with almost incredible speed, the formation is never broken...". Exactly such a scene is described as 'a beautiful dance' of a party of 'golden re birds' upon a certain river: काञ्चनमयाङ्गविलसत्कारण्डवषण्डताण्डवमनोज्ञाम् -श्रीललितास्तवरत्नम्, 84; काव्यमाला, Pt. 10. refers to their vermilion bill and feet. Finally, the following two lists of Ducks showing their preference for(i) tanks and lakes, or (ii) rivers and lakes should help a student of Sanskrit literature in forming a rough idea of the sort of birds a poet has in mind when using the phrase, gert, to describe a lake, tank or river. It must, however, be .remembered that ge in this phrase includes the Geese and Ducks, and, the Mallard, the Smew, the Goosander and the Coot. 85 GREBES Grebes constitute a group of water-birds easily distinguished from others by their being practically tailless and the peculiar structure of their feet, which are placed far behind and have toes furnished with broad lobes and flat blunt nails. 1. The Little Grebe or Dab-chick is common on tanks and reedy margins of slower rivers. It is a small bird about 9 inches long, and feeds on insects, vegetable matter and small fish for which last it is expert diver. It is mentioned in वसन्तराज as वज्जुल (पाणंतरा in Rajasthan correspond- ing to Hindi for eft) as a bird of omen in ch. 4, 21. It has a curious tittering note, a shrill rippling whinny audible for some distance, and its alarm note is a sharp 'tui, tui'. As the bird is common on all way-side tanks and even ponds of some size its inclusion in the list of birds of augury is easily understood. It is mentioned twice in the Rāmāyaṇa both as a river and tank bird: सरितं वापि सम्प्राप्ता मीनवजुलसेविताम् । कारण्ड: सारसह सर्वञ्जुलैर्जलकुक्कुटे: । Poet wayfa's appreciation of the soft notes is to be seen in the following verse: आमञ्जुवञ्जुलस्तानि च तान्यमूनि । नीरन्ध्रनीलनिचुलानि सरितटानि ॥–उत्तररामचरित 1. III.61.16. 2. IV.13.8. 3. 2.23. Scribes who knew merely as a kind of reed or cane and could not therefore make sense of the words "af" introduced their own emendations like "वज्जुललतानि" or "मज्जुललतानि" for them, forgetting for the moment that the poet would not refer twice to vegetation on the river bank in the same verse. On the other hand the dense reedy growth is indeed the place for the birds who actually derive their name from the reeds they live in.
