Birds in Sanskrit Literature ponding to पिरिडी in Prakrit and पिदड़ी, पीदड़ी, in Hindi. These appear to be Prakrit words related to sfcafe, a hedge (from Sanskrit fe and af, a hedge) and have been applied to these birds because they frequent hedges in villages. The name may well be from Prakrit feft, a cluster, from the bird's habit of moving in flocks. They are also free, or (from Skt. refer) in Hindi. 3. The Red Munia appears to be सुनार कलविदु (from सुनाल with ल changed to ₹ sce शब्दकल्पद्रुम "सुनार: कलबिङ्क"विश्व and मेदिनी) and सेन्य which latter is one of the names for Sparrow-like birds listed in the इंजयन्ती - 90 "चटको वर प्राटक: बलिभुक् कलविश्व सेव्यस्तिलककष्टकः" Now both gar and are varieties of Andropogon grass growing near water, and t is chiefly in these and similar tall grasses that the Red Munia roosts and breeds. g again, in the sense of a red water-lily, may refer to the red colour of the male bird. These facts make it highly probable that सुनार and सेम्य in the sense of a कलविङ or चटक, are no other than the beautiful Red Munia. has an additional signi- ficance attached to it, viz., the birds so named are worth keeping as pets, and these birds are indeed in great favour throughout the country as cage- birds, a number of them being kept together in a single cage. The pretty male is known as T ('red' and also 'a little boy') and the female. मुनियां (मुनी a little girl, fem. of मुन्ना) in Hindi, names which fully corres- pond to Sanskrit gas and gfarer for small children and birds; cf. er:fi:; पोती पक्षिणां स्वयपत्ये" शब्दार्थ चिन्तामणि पोतकी, the Indian Robin Prakrit पोबाई from start, a little bird; and Pali g, a young bird. Although no Sanskrit dictionary gives gars or go for a little bird, we have numerous instances of expressions like चातक पोत, चातक शिशु, or शकुन्त बालक in literature. gferer or gfer in the following stands for a tiny bird: “पुलाका इव धान्येषु पुत्तिका इव पक्षिषु" --म.भा. 12, 181, 7 "पुलाका इव धान्येषु पूतिका इव पक्षिषु मशका इव मर्त्येषु येषां धर्मो न कारणम्”–पञ्चतन्त्र, काकोलूकीय, 97. The mention of , a winged insect, in the last verse considerably strengthens the meaning of gferer or gfare as a tiny bird, and the Pali form gf (fem. of g) appears to have been purposely used in a contemptuous sense for gf, a little bird. It is highly impro- bable that the expert author of should have drawn upon two equally insignificant insects, the white ant and the mosquito, for two out of three similes. Again, gf as an alternative reading for fr is possible only through Prakrit fire, a child, and the term corresponds in formation to for a Bulbul (Art. 6). 4. We have already considered for the Fan-tail Flycatcher in reference to its dancing habit (Art. 11) and, as the active little Red Weaver-Birds and Munias Munias, when caged as pets, keep on dancing as it were within the cage, they have been given the name of लट्वाका, a diminutive of लट्वा. सढ़वा as a musical instrument, probably a boy's whistle, is perhaps so named because of the whistling notes of the birds that go under the names of ar and लट्वाका (“लट्वा क्षुद्रचटका"-उणादि भोजीयानि कटका is a misprint) लट्वा also means the deep orange-red safflower and the little Red Munia may well have been so named after the colour of the male. In the referans (No.357), a small bird, called wefar (Pali for are), figures prominently. It placed its nest on the ground in grass-land and when the nest was in danger of being destroyed by a roving herd of wild elephants the little mother-bird lifting her wings in salutation makes a pathetic appeal to the leader not to kill (inadvertently or otherwise) her still unfledged young ones (gr). (This verse is quoted in Art. 45.) Again, a ref, singing freely or fearlessly in its cage (enfer), is mentioned in a proverb in दीघनिकाय :- "लटुकिकापि खो अंबट्ट सके कुलावके कामलायिनी होति” 91 P.T.S. Edn. 1.91. The Red Munia frequently builds its nest in tall grass very low or even on the ground (Whistler). It is thus more than probable that wefent of the Jataka, i.e. war, is the Red Munia. The root word being or सट्य (लट् बाल्ये, लद्-लल-लालन; लट्वा a dancing girl) the name लट्वाका perhaps stands close enough to Sansk. सेव्य (लालन योग्य) and Hindi लाल (the red colour and a little boy, cf. Sansk. a). 3. The name was also used for the Rufous Short-toed Lark-Art. 27, and as none of the short-toed Larks is a breeding bird of India proper the Jataka story mentioned here cannot refer to any of them.
