48 Birds in Sanskrit Literature अतसीपुष्पवर्णाभां सुप्रतिष्ठां सुलोचनाम् । -शब्दकल्प under दुर्गा fshould, therefore, be the Blue Rock Both gaf and like Thrushes as both mean also the flax or अतसी plant : "उमा दुर्गाऽतसी स्मृता"- उणादिसूत्रवृत्ति (उज्ज्वलदत्त ) :1.143; अतसी नीलपुष्पी च पार्वती स्याद्रुमा शुमा- धन्वन्तरि Later on, however, some of the birds that bore the name of came to be known by the synonymous term ¹ and thence as . Thus we have कस्तूरी or कस्तूरा for the Black-birds and कस्तूरा for the Himalayan Whistling Thrush. The Blue-headed Rock Thrush is greft (graf) in Nepal and was probably for applied later by to the Indian Robin. 8. We have seen that वसन्तराज has कुमारी (one of the names of goddess पार्वती) as one of the names for the Indian Robin, but there is reason to believe that it was originally a name for the Shama. The male Shama is black above and down to the lower breast, chestnut below and has a prominent white patch above the base of the tail which is black and white. The cons- picuous colour pattern of the bird is fully comparable with the description of the goddess gure created by the combined energy issuing from the eyes of ब्रह्मा, विष्णु and महेश according to a statement in the वायुपुराण :- "विवर्णा न कुमारी सा कृष्णा शुक्ला च पीतिका ।" gras a bird-name, therefore, may well belong to the Shama, the best Indian songster, in her own right and would appear to have been appro- priated by as a compliment to the Indian Robin. It may be that the description of the goddess gurê herself was taken over from the bird bearing the name. It must, however, be conceded that the male Robin. also is almost black throughout, has white wing-patch, visible in flight, and a little chestnut under the tail. The white and chestnut are not, however, half as conspicuous as in Shama the Robin is almost a black by comparison and has been rightly named कृष्णपक्षी. 9. is a small song-bird' ir M. Williams, and should mean the Ruby-throat which is "a robin-like bird ashy-slate above with a white forehead, chin and throat bright crimson bordered with black". (S. Ali- Indian Hill Birds). "It runs and hops about on the ground,....wings partly drooping, tail cocked and switched over the back now and again.... In all its movements and behaviour it is extremely reminiscent of the familiar Blue-throat of the plains in winter, and in some ways also of the Indian Robin.... In the breading season the cock utters a lively pleasant song" (ibid). It is quite common in the North-Indian plains during winter. 748 (having a red throat) for a small song-bird should therefore belong to it, for no other song bird with a contrasting red throat or neck. is known in India. as a homonym is also an epithet of the 1. राजनिघण्टु 2. Ch. 90.23. The Thrush Family cuckoo in the sense of a bird with a passionate call- affected by or love and voice. Similarly var'a kind of small bird' in Wilson's Dictionary may well be the Red-spotted Blue-throat, another winter. visitor of the same area. Its Hindi name fr frar is fully synonymous with. It may be added that was is also an adnoun for the Peacock while the Magpie Robin, the House Sparrow and the White birds share the Wagtail amongst the smaller adnoun नीलकण्ठ (नील black) but not 49 10. कपेक्षुक is a bird of augury in वसन्तराज' and if it is from कप्– कम्पू॰ to tremble and re a kind of grass, it should be the Black Redstart which "has the ague in its tail" like a blade of grass trembling in the breeze. Its Hindi name is धरथरकंपा or simply विरथिरा (स्थिर+अस्थिर ?). धन्वन्तरि distinguishes between and and defines the latter as "af" i.e. बज्जरी is a bird with a trembling tail, and this and चलपिच्छक (चल-कम्पने ) seem to be other names for the Redstart, unless they refer to the Pippits (Art. 26 B). 11. The Grey-winged Black-bird is a well-known and fanfiliar bird of its class and goes under the Hindi name of कस्तूरी and कस्तूरा (कस्तूरी - श्यामा, the dark coloured). The inale, being black with grey patches on the wings is about eleven inches long. It has a coral red to deep orange. bill and is "one of the finest and best known songsters of the Himalayas." For this reason it is a favourite cage-bird. Allied forms occur in the central parts of the country and in the Nilgiris. डल्हणाचार्य on सुश्रुत explains कलविङ्क as "कालचटक: भृङ्गराजाद् भिन्न:". It follows that, like the Magpie Robin (कालकण्ठ f) this bird too was regarded as a kind of fg and was known as (Black-bird or Black-sparrow) which is the same as or antag for चटक is synonymous with कलविड in a special sense "चटक: कलवि स्यात्"अमर. The name कालचटक, it may be noted, is applied in certain parts of the country to the Common Black Drongo or the Himalayan Whistling Thrush because all three have a black plumage. It is not to be wondered at if in a vast country like India names based on colour are applied to different birds in different parts of the country. (8.2.50) also mentions the Blackbird by the name of कालचटक 5 12. aforgue ('red-billed') as a Himalayan bird may well be the Grey- winged Blackbird unless it is the coral billed Scimitar Babbler as suggested in Art. 5:- 1. 8.2.51. 2. Words like fa and are traced to root fa in M. W. and Unadi. Compare also alternative forms like कपिल्वलक and कम्पिल्सक The The name is evidently coined after are for the Wagtail. Wire-tailed Swallow is known as "Leishra" (?) in the Punjab from the resemblance of the tail-wires with the 'Leishra'-grass (Jerdon). mentioned by end and the Black Drongo are allied forms within. the same family. Dicruridae (Art. 15). 4. 3. वसन्तराज mentions the Black Drongo under the name of फेण्ट (Art. 15).
