7 TREE-CREEPERS Tree-creepers are inconspicuous grey-brown birds of the size of a common Sparrow. They are wholly insectivorous and spend their entire life hunting for insects on the trunks of the larger trees, working in zigzags up the bole "rather like a jerky brown mouse". They never perch on the twigs and may frequently be seen working along the under-side of a bough with their backs parallel to the ground. After working in this manner at one tree, from the lower bole upwards, they fly from the top of one trunk down to the lower part of another. They are resident birds of the Himalayan forests but come down to the nearby plains in winter. An allied form seeks its food in a similar way from perpendicular rock-faces, boulders, etc. and it is for this reason named the Wall-Creeper. This is a foreign bird and visits India during the t winter. Sanskrit firge, means 'a little mouse', 'a kind of bird' (i.e. fug 'a mouse-bird'), and a kind of tree, and from the fact that the Tree-creeper is known as aer, or Mouse-bird in Assam there is hardly any doubt that the name faz (e) refers to this particular bird. The Wrens, with similar mouse-like habits on the ground, also share the name. A particular bird named (from tur, a lizard, with arm, and there- fore meaning 'a little lizard') is mentioned in rere and it is most probably this bird, for what Whistler has described as 'the movements of a jerky brown-mouse' appeared to the ancient Indians as the zig-zag movements of a lizard, and they very aptly named it गोधा or गोधक, cf. गोलत्तिका (aferer a lizard) for the Yellow Wagtail. The Tree-creeper, the female of the Black Drongo (TT) and the Woodpecker have been assigned to the deity presiding over the larger trees at the Horse Sacrifice: Con 1. चिकुरः पक्षिवृक्षभिदो-हेमचन्द्र, विश्वप्रकाश and मेदिनी 2. Verse 2009. though his 3. Commentator उब्बटाचार्य renders गोधा and कालका as particular birds पक्षिविशेषाः rendering of दावघाट (the woodpecker) as सारस is incorrect. कालका is proabably the same as कालिका, the female of the अङ्गारक bird in पतञ्जलि महाभाष्य 6.3.34. ar is the Black Drongo (Art. 15) and, as arifet means a fire-pan and the black and red bird of the gear tree, it is possible to explain the separate name of fire (the black one; are also means 'black') for the female as some sort of a necessity. Tree-Creepers 41 "गोधा कालका दावघाटस्ते वनस्पतीनाम्।" वाज संहिता, 24.35. The permanent association of the Tree-creeper with large trees (fa) is a well-known fact. Monitor Lizards (tur) are mostly ground crea- tures and climb trees occasionally in search of food and cannot have been intended here. The Drongo nests in the leafy crown of a tall tree and during the nesting period drives off all the large predacious birds like the Crows, Tree-pies, Kites, Hawks etc. from its vicinity and, indirectly as it were, keeps watch over the tree. The female is mentioned as she is naturally more zealous in these respects. The Woodpecker course permanently wedded to a tree-life, and herein lies the propriety of the Vedic allocation of the three birds to the Deity of the Trees. of
