52 Birds in Sanskrit Literature A good description of the charming song of कलविङ क (Pali करवीक ) is contained in verse 39 of the affamara where the amorous voice of the princess affer in the garb of a fare is compared with that of the bird: "अकक्कसं अगलितं मह मुहूं अनुद्धतं अचपलंस्म भासितं । रुदं मञ्ज करवीक मुम्मरं हृदयंगमं रंजयतेव में मनो ॥ The "करविया" (करवीका कलविङ का) of the बेस्संतर जातक again are these birds and to translate as 'a Cuckoo' is clearly incorrect. For Magpie Robin as a nominal victim for god erg at the see Art. 23A. 15. The Himalayan whistling Thrush is a deep blue-black bird, brighter on the wings and tail with black legs and eye-rim which latter distinguishes it from the not much smaller Blackbird in which these parts are yellow. Another race of this Thrush, the Malabar Whistling Thrush occurs in the Indian Peninsula south of the Satpuras. The call is a loud melodious whistle, Blackbird-like in tone but more powerful and resembling the human whistle, hence it is nick-named 'the whistling school-boy' by the European residents of the country. It is known as fere (making a 'see' or st like whistle) in Telugu and is evidently the same as Sanskrit श्रीबद (श्री-इति वदतीति ). Its Hindi names कालजित and कस्तूरा correspond to Sanskrit कालचटक and श्यामा respectively for the Blackbird because both are of a black colour and have a similar whistling call. 16. The black and white Fork-tails of the Himalayan streams resem- ble the Wagtail in general outline and have also the tail-wagging habit so that they are likely to be "mistaken for a Wagtail". They are actually known as in Kashmir and scem to be the bird fa rendered as a kind of Wagtail' by M. Williams, Wilson and riff. The name itself implies a bird that is not a Wagtail proper but has the shape of one. 17. The Golden Bush-Robin of Nepal with a beautiful plumage of olive- green black and bright orange goes by the name of मनसिल फो ( मन:शिल चटक) in Assam. in the Himalayan dialects means 'a Sparrow', (Cf. Sansk. g for a bird). We have the term f (native red arsenic) used to describe the plumage of a bird in the following verse which makes it highly probable that this bird was known as af we in Sanskrit as well though the name has not been preserved in the current lexicons:- "मनःशिलाभवंदनैविहङगा...." -- सौन्दरनन्द, 10.28. 1. Story No. 526 which is probably based upon the story of in M. Bh. 3.111-112. and 2. I refer to the English translation of the Jataka by H.T. Francis, edited by E. B. Cowell, and the Pali Dictionary (P.T.S. edn.). Since wrting the above I have had occa- sion, through the courtesy of Dr. Lokesh Chandra. to glance through Asia Major. New Series Vol. II, Part I. 1951 where at p. 38 H. W. Bailey has traced ft in a Khotanese Buddhist document to कलविकरविक, 11 FLYCATCHERS 1. This family of birds contains a large number of species and is well-repre- sented in India, but quite a few of them are only winter visitors with us. There is no mistaking a Flycatcher as all of them catch their insect food on the wing. Some species carry on their operations from a fixed perch while others return to a different perch after every sally into the air at flying insects. They are weak in the legs and rarely descend to the ground but when they do so they generally do not walk or hop about. The smaller and rather plain coloured birds like the Flycatcher Warblers, would pass for a fer but the larger and more strikingly plumaged birds, like the Blue, the Fan-tail and the Paradise Flycatchers, have distinctive names in Sans- krit. 2. लट्वा is a प्रतुद (pecking) bird चरक and सुश्रुत and it is mentioned within ¹ The blue-coloured Niltava Flycatcher is known as terdar ortacar in Hindi (F.B.I.). This last name is probably from Sanskrit नीलला and is the same as the नीलचटक or 'Blue Sparrow'. is, therefore, a Flycatcher which is not of a blue colour, and as a means 'a dancing boy', should be the Fantail Flycatchers considered in paragraph 3 below and the white- spotted Fantail of the Peninsula. "For liveliness and grace", says Whistler, "it is not to be surpassed. It is never still, and the whole livelong day it dances and pirouettes, filled with an inimitable joie de vivre,..it turns from side to side with restive jerky movements; like a ballet-dancer it tries new steps and attitudes.....Never was bird better named." The Fantail rises and falls perpendicularly in the air, opening the fan-shaped tail or completely tumbles over. The bird also combines a pretty little song of some five or six loud whistling notes with its dancing movements, and it is hardly necessary to add that the movement of its tail recalls the expanding skirt of a dancing girl during a performance. The of in 1. 8.2.49-50. 2. लटवा in a general sense means a sparrow and has been rendered as ग्रामचटक, the House Sparrow in , but the name applies to particular birds (by the rule साधारणोऽपि विशेषे वर्तते, अभि. चिन्ता.) c.g. the short-toed Bush-lark (लट्वाका) ( Art 26.) and probably also the Red Munia. नीललट्वाललोपः नीलट्वा, नीलटवा नौलतवा 3. Cambridge Natural History, Vol. IX.
