21 STARLINGS AND MYNAS 1. These birds are closely allied to the Grackles, a fact recognised by the ancients who gave them all the common name. of सारिका. Even the Common and the Jungle Babblers have been regarded as varieties. of the Myna and this accounts for the mixed synonyms found in f कल्पनु and राजनिघण्टु where names found in different earlier Mss have been put together, but a close study of the names shows that they are not synonyms for one or two birds only. All Starlings and Mynas are gregarious and noisy by habit. 2. Starlings are glossy black birds, looking as if oiled and more or less spotted finely with buff. The whole plumage is iridescent with a high gloss of red, purple, green and blue (Whistler). The oldest names for them are or gre (spotted) and der (as if smeared with oil and, therefore, glossy). gris one of the birds required at the Horse-Sacrifice and has been named for the God of Fire:- "अग्नये गृहपतयें पारुष्णान्”–V.S. 24.24 Fire is pode (whose way is black', as a forest-fire leaves a black track) and Whistler's description of a flock of these black birds mov- ing on the ground fully explains this selection: "The chief characteristic of the flocks is hurry; they feed on the ground...., and all the time the flock advances with a bustle and hurry, not hopping but with a quick purposeful step the birds in the rear frequently flying over to settle in front of the lea- ders". No further comment is necessary. 3. According to an oil-thief becomes a or Starling in his next birth (“तेस तेलपक: खग:” मनु, 12-63). This त लपक appears as तँलपायी in याज्ञवल्क्य ("तसहत्तलपायी स्यात्" 211) and in महाभारत 13.111,111. सारिका and defer in the following are the Grackle and Starling respectively:- "गृहे पारावता धन्याः शुकाध सहसारिकाः गृहेष्वेते न पापाय तथा वै तैलपायिकाः" 1. तैलपायिका at 13.104, 114. M.Bh., 13.104, 114. 85 Starlings and Mynas and for signify the spotted Cockroach, which feeds on oil, as well as the Spotted Munia (Art. 22B). In Hindi the Starlings are known as तिलोरी or तेलियामैना (Oily Starling ). Both पारुण and तलपक therefore denote the Himalayan and Finsch's Starlings which are common in North India, 2 4. The name wfe (from arc, spotted, or a colour combination- "नीलपीतादणश्शारो.."वैजयन्ती; cf. पाहण्ण) is again the above while the Common Myna, which is unspotted, is enfer. This latter has earned additional epithets like कलहप्रिया, कलहाकुला etc. and वैजयन्ती has "वाचाला मुबरा enfe" because of their quarrelsome and noisy nature, and it is for this reason that they are held to be inauspicious birds in 8.17. A verse descriptive of the quarrelsome nature of ef has already been quoted from the रामायण in Art 20. Adnouns like पीतनेवा, चिवनेका, पीतपादा etc. are merely descriptive and apply equally to the Common Myna and the Grackle, and the last even to the Red and Yellow-wattled Lapwings. The Bank Myna is similar to the Common Myna except for the red of the bare skin round the eye. It is often found in company with the latter and would naturally go by the same name, viz., enfer, though in Hindi it is distinguished as as it lays its eggs in holes made in earthen banks over running water. It may well have been renfes in Sanskrit. 5. The यक्षकुणपी of मैत्रायणी संहिता, 3.10.3 is the Common Myna according to सायणाचार्य कुणपी is the बिसारिका or the Pied Myna in मेदिनी and विकाण्डशेष but this bird is not known to enter human dwellings, so that t cannot be this Myna. The Common Myna, on the other hand, is the "commonest and most familiar bird about human habitations-whether in the heart of a bustling city or far out on the countryside" and fitted "admirably for life of commensalism with man" (Salim Ali). "Always perky and self-confident", it is the only bird, next to the House Crow, most likely to enter the sacred precincts of the mar and befoul the floor or peck at offerings arranged there for a sacrifice. f being a contemptuous name for the Pied Myna, the Common Myna has been very appropriately called agit. The nanie teret for the Common Myna has already been considered in Art. 6, under Babblers. 6. The beautiful Brahminy Myna has the "top of the head, including a long bushy crest, black; the sides of the head, the whole of the neck and the entire lower plumage rich buff." It is, therefore, the affer (" स्यात्पीतलोहितः" वैजयन्ती i.e. reddish fawn or buff) and कवरी ( केशविन्यास) of the list. This Myna is known as in Hindi for which a respectable The equation परोष्णी तलपायिका of अमरकोश is evidently a homonymous one applying to (1) the starling birds and (2) the cockroach insect, as is clear from the fact hat repeats it in its lists of both birds and insects.
