54 Birds in Sanskrit Literature is, therefore, this Flycatcher, and, provided this identification is reasonably correct, one can say with Whistler, "never was bird better named" in Sanskrit. For ear (fr. aa a curl on the forehead) as the White- cheeked Bulbul see Art. 6 and for wear, the Red Munia, Art. 22-B. 3. बिहार ("विहारस्तु परिक्रम:- क्रीडा सञ्चरणम्- रामाश्रमीटीका on अमर) according to शब्दकल्पद्रुम and शब्दार्थचिन्तामणि is the बिन्दुरेखक (बिन्दुविशिष्टा रेखा यत्न) bird. विहार also means 'sport or play' and 'a grove', farg is a 'spot or drop',and te on er is a 'row or series', 'border or edge'. These make it clear that the bird meant is of sporting or playful habits, frequents groves, and has a row or line of spots in its plumage. These characteristics obtain in the White-browed and the White-throated Fantail Flycatchers both of which have their tail feathers tipped white, and the tails when expanded exhibit a prominent border of white or white spots. They are, as we have already seen, of sportive habits and frequent groves of trees in garden or woodland. fargre and fate may well thus be the names for the above two Fantails. within the larger a group of Fantail Flycatchers. 4. The most striking member of the present family is the Paradise Flycatcher (21" inclusive of 16" of central pair of tail feathers), sometimes called the Ribbon Bird. The crested head of the male and female is black. The young cock-bird is chestnut above and carries a pair of thin ribbon- like central tail-feathers of the same colour up to about two years of age after which it acquires the adult plumage which is pure white except for the head and the wingquills which are black. The female is chestnut above with a grey breast like the young male and sometimes grows the long central tail-feathers of a chestnut colour. They are most beautiful birds and their presence definitely adds to the charm of every grove, garden or hermitage. It must be their grace and beauty which moved the law-givers like and to include them in the list of birds prohibited as food, for otherwise they are so small that few would be tempted to kill them for the pot. sa 5. मनु calls it रज्जुवाल' and याज्ञवल्क्य, रज्जुदालक, The commentators have missed the identity of the bird, and while some have rendered it Woodpecker others have held it to be some water-bird, but the names. themselves hardly leave any room for doubt. is 'a cord or string' and are 'a tail' (Cf. -black-tailed'). दल is a leaf or पत्र and therefore stands for a feather. rers, from root, to split may also 1. 5.12. रज्जुरिव वाल पुच्छमस्य रज्जुवाल. In the commentarirs on मनुस्मृति मेधातिथि frankly remarks that the birds in question should be identified with the help of fowlers ( रज्जुदालादयः शाकुनिकेभ्य: उपलब्धव्याः), कुल्लूक and नन्दन are silent. रामचन्द्र accepts the मिताक्षरा on याज्ञवल्लय while सर्वशनारायण calls it a kind of water bird (जलचरपक्षिभेदः) which again is incorrect. 2. 1.174. दलं-खण्डम् रज्जुदलाभ्यां द्विदलारज्जुभ्यां द्विदलाकृता, दारिता, रज्ज्वा वा युक्तः रज्जुदाल: The मिताक्षरा on याज्ञवल्क्य renders it as बुक्षकुट्टक: a woodpecker of कोट्टन for the same in Pali (Art. 34). M.W. does not give this word but has an entry for ere, rendered as a 'tree-fowl. wild cock' which seems to be not quite correct. 55 Flycatchers refer to the two central tail-feathers as if they were the 'split' or separated strands of a cord. The (string or ribbon-tailed) is therefore no other than the Paradise Flycatcher. 6. is one of the birds assigned for the sun in his friendly aspect in the बाज संहिता:- "शार्गः सृजयः शयाण्डकस्ते मैवाः" । is the Bee-eater (Art. 40) and the sun-loving Lizard (शयण्डक), both of insectivorous habits. सुजय too should therefore be an insect-destroying bird-all three being friendly to the crop or fruit- farmer. Now means 'to let go or fly' or 'to cast or let go (a measuring line)' M. Williams. श्वेतवनवासिन् has "सृज्यत इतिरज्जु गुणमयी", उणादि, 1.10 and bearing these in mind it would seem that also is the Paradise. Flycatcher which during flight appears (i) to have been tied string and let go like a paper kite, (ii) as leading away a measuring string, or (iii) carrying a pair of strands as if to twist them into a cord a ( रज्जु सृजति सृजय: ) 8 7. The bird in the following passage would again seem to be this beautifully white Flycatcher: "समीक्ष्यमाणौ पुष्पाढ्यं सर्वतो विपुलद्रुमम् । कोयष्टिकंचार्जुनकैः शतपतंश्च कीचकैः ।। एतैश्वान्यैश्च विहगैर्नादितं तु वनं महत् । -- रामायण 3.75, 18-19. The word is indicative of the whiteness of several things including ‘milk and it also means straw or a blade of grass' (अर्जुनस्तुणे-उज्ज्वलदत्त ), Our bird is milk-white (cf. its Hindi name, g) and appears also to carry a couple of pieces of straw in its tail. It may be added that ofer also means a Peacock which, however, has always been mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa by the well-known names of and af, and has actually been so named a few lines below the verses quoted above. Moreover the 1. 24.39 Hindi सेछागुन if from स्वच्छ गुण (a white thread) or स्वेच्छा + गुण (growing a cord at will), may well be this bird (हिन्दी शब्द-सागर), 2. See Art. 71 para. 10. 3. Compare "farsa, 5.7 prohibiting a woman in a state of "impurity' from making a rope, lest her womb gets twisted and becomes unfit to conceive a baby. 4. 3umfegagfer, 3.59. The Wire-tailed Swallow is known as leishra' ('a kind. of grass' according to Jerdon) in the Punjab as the tail-wires look like pieces of straw. The tree. Terminalia arjuna, is so named from its white trunk and the arfa variety of grass too must be one of a whitish colour. according to it is also a kind of lizard, apparently with a long thread like tail, probably, the Long-tailed Green Calotes (C. ophiomachus) having a body of five and tail of twenty inches. This lizard does not occur in North India and can not have been intended in the passage from the afgar where the commentator takes for a particular bird. 3. दूधराज fr. दुग्ध milk with root राज् to shine or दुग्ध राजि 3 white streak or line.
