94 (vi) fr (vii) पोतमुण्ड Birds in Sanskrit Literature is the Crested Lark (Art. 27); चटक also called पोतमुण्ड कलविडक, is (Art. 22-A). the Weaver-Bird the 3. The to be sacrificed to the personified deity of Summer must have white in its body-colour (ara. affiga, 24, 11), and कलविङक in "ग्रीष्माय कलविङ्कान्-" (Ibid., 24, 20 ) is no other than the beautiful Magpie Robin which, with black head, neck, and upper part, is pure white below with a good deal of white on the wings and tail. No other Sparrow has so much and such pure white in its plumage. More- over, this bird is in full song in Summer. af, again, is a victim for god त्वष्ट्रा in :- "कलविको लोहिताहिः पुष्करसादस्ते त्वाष्ट्रा:"- Ibid., 24.31 and is probably the same, for one is said to have come out of the ga head of far, the son of , and the bird's powerful and spirited song is attributed to its peculiar birth from a drunken head: "ततः कलविङ्कः समभवत् तस्मात् सोऽभिमाद्यत्क इव वदत्यभिमाद्यन्निव हि सुरां पीत्वा वदति – शतपथ ब्राह्मण, 5.5.4,5 In the alternative, the bird may be the beautiful daque af, the Weaver-Bird, some sort of a whistler, and the best bird-architect of India, in reference to being the expert artisan of the gods. This goes well with the nest making skill of the Whiskered Tern, which alone of the Indian Terns, constructs a nest on a lotus leaf by winding round and round water- weeds upon it, and hence called ger (Art. 69), and afgarfe, the beautifully marked red Coral Snake of genus Callophis. 6. डल्हणाचार्य on सुश्रुतसंहिता is uncertain as to the identity of कलविड and offers several alternatives, one of which:- "अन्ये तु रक्तशिरसं कृष्णग्रीवं ग्रामचटकाकार कलविङ्कमाहुः, " is significant and would seem to refer to the Gold-headed Black Finch or the Gold-fronted Black Finch. It is possible that the statement has mixed up the descriptive terms (i) for the Rose and other Finches having red on the head, and (ii) कृष्णग्रीव (i.e., कालकण्ठ कलविडक ) for the Magpie Robin and the Shama, as different kinds off or to the Rose- Song-Sparrows. In any case fa refers Finch, and af to the Gold-fronted and the Gold- headed and Gold-fronted Black Finches, the Red-headed Bull-Finch, etc., beautiful Himalayan birds found in Kashmir and Nepal and some of which migrate to the plains in winter. In short all pretty looking Finches with a sweet voice are af and many of them have been favourite cage- birds in Nepal and elsewhere from time immemorial. kind of Sparrow 7. or black-tailed Sparrow) is a in M. Williams and free and the name probably belongs to the Bull-Finches which have entirely black tails. The Red-headed Bull-Finch 95 Finches and Buntings is known as if in Assam and this name is perhaps a corruption of forg कलबिन—कोबिन as under the influence of Bengali कल is pronounced as कोल. The Bull-Finches are, therefore, the age or af of the lexicons. It must be added in conclusion that the term कलविङ्क as used in स्मृति and a literature, in connection with the ban against the killing of birds for food, is co-extensive in meaning with the terms and covers all Sparrow-like birds just as the terms and ge imply all Storks, Ibises. and Herons, and all Swans, Geese and Ducks, respectively, and so on with other generic bird-names. B. BUNTINGS 1. The Buntings form a well-defined group within the Finch family, but those resembling the common Sparrow in outward appearance and habits would, as individuals, pass for a gf or . Some species, how- ever, like the Black-headed and the Red-headed Buntings which are very gregarious and move in large flocks or swarms and cause considerable da- mage to winter-crops, were named very early. Thus we have a (grain-robber or crop destroyer) for them in the age class of birds in g. These birds breed beyond the Indian limits and visit the plains of India during the winter from the foot of the Himalayas southwards, and from Sind in the west Bihar in the east. The Black-headed Bunting has the entire lower plumage deep yellow but in the Red-headed this colour is confined to the lower breast, flanks, and the abdomen. Other Sanskrit names for them are based on this and other features:- (i) In the traf displaced:--- “भोरिट: श्यामचटकः शैशिरः कणभक्षक: गृहकर्तृ क्षमो भीरुः कृषिद्विष्टः कणप्रियः” --- कल्पद्रुकोश the two halves of the above verse have been slightly "भारोट: श्यामचटक: शैशिरः कणभक्षकः धूसरोऽन्यो ऽति सूक्ष्मः स्याच्चटको धान्यभक्षकः गृहकृत्यक्षमो भीरुः कृषिद्विष्ट: कणप्रियः" Here the first and third lines constitute a connected verse and the second line refers to a different bird, viz., the Finch Lark (Art. 27) and is clearly out of place. The authors of both these lexicons appear to have borrowed from an old manuscript, probably of aff, the present printed edition of which, however, contains only the second slightly corrupt line of the original as below:- (iii) "गृहकर्ताऽक्षमो भीरुः कृषिद्विष्टः कणप्रियः” and the first line was probably similar to what we have in the other two lexicons. The readings गुहन्तु क्षम ( perhaps more correctly गृहकर्जंक्षम गृहत् +
