Birds in Sanskrit Literature It was regarded as a Quail-like sparrow because it was plentiful during the winter with flocks of migrating Quails and was largely netted along with them, and this seems to be the reason why it has been placed with the Quails in T and gafar as already stated. They are also the af (fr. r a month and, therefore, a Quail-like bird that visits the country fora short period or a season only) and पोषवर्तिका ( fr. पुब to kill the birds being killed in large numbers for food). 110 The fer includes in one synonymy, three names of three different birds of the Lark family:- भरद्वाज कुकराटो व्याघ्राट: पुन्यदर्शनः । is in other lexicons, but instead of being a synonym for the Sky-Lark, it is the same as Hindi (:) for the Bush Larks, other than the Singing Bush Lark, which have hardly a song and this fact is recognised in the imitative names कराट and चरचरा. The Singing Bush Lark is known as afir in Hindi and afir foren in Telugu, and these names are probably traceable to f, the same as afrs, which means simply 'a bird' according to the lexicons but should have been rendered, as I strongly suspect, as 'a kind of bird.' A perusal of the various Unadi Sutras and lexicons shows that many specific bird-naines have been briefly rendered simply 'a bird' so that it is most likely that the term for af, was also so dealt with, and the bird's identity having been lost, the expression came to mean just 'a bird'. An absurd etymological explanation also has been offered for f कण्ठे कण्ठाभ्यन्तरे अग्निः, पाचनरूपाऽग्निरस्य-शब्दकल्पद्रुम, for everybody knows, and the etymologist certainly knew, that the 'digestive fire' (raf:) is in the stomach of all creatures including birds and not in the throat or neck. If on the other hand the lexicographer had to interpret it as a specific bird-name, he would have derived it in some such way:- कण्ठदेशे अग्निः शब्दरूपाग्निरस्य; comp. मुखाद् वाग् वाचोऽग्निः (ऐत. उप. 1.4), and अग्निर्वाग भूत्वा मुख प्राविशत् (ibid. 2.4. ) The singing Bush-Lark is very vocal and has a powerful voice-a caged bird often singing for the better part of twenty four hours of the day during the season and hence the name, afs or af. This derivation finds support from the fact that the name is on a par with a for the Cuckoo and readily explains the Hindi name af for the singing Bush-Lark, otherwise it is very difficult to see why the bird should have been named afir and अगिन जित्ता (अग्निचटक) i.e. fire, and fire sparrow respectively in Hindi and Telugu. Compared with the other Bush-Larks with harsh notes (), the singing Bush-Lark would pass for a good and powerful songater, and though, nowhere in comparison with the Sky-Lark or the Crested Lark, it is nevertheless a popular cage-bird of India. The धूसर पटक and अरण्य चटक are names a particular bird which is described as (crouching), f (roosting and breeding on the ground), (ground-born), and (walking little. or in The Larks short spurts) in धन्वन्तरिनिषण्टु राजनिघण्टु and कल्पद्रुकोश. These characters agree very well with the habits of the Finch Larks. Salim Ali says about the Ashy-crowned Finch Lark-"This little Lark affects flat, open cultivated country and semi-barren waste land. It is usually met with in pairs or parties which run along the ground, body held low, short zig-zag spurts, facing this way and that, in search of food. Its colouration is remarkably obliterative and matches the ground to per- fection...The nest is a tiny, neatly made saucer-like depression in the ground ....in open country." In regard to their obliterative colouration, Whistler mentions another trait of the birds: "On the ground their colouration renders these Larks very inconspicuous, and an observer walking along is often astonished at the numbers which rise one by one around him and then fly away in a dense flock from the ground which was apparently empty of life." They are called ge and eft the same as (crouching or squatting sparrow) in Hindi. Lastly we have fr included by ft in its list of song- sparrows. As the name implies, it is a bird which wears a sharply pointed crest on the fore-crown like a fars or upright sectarian mark on the forehead. It is clearly the Crested Lark. This bird is spread to the west and central Asia also; compare, Khar-i-sar, having a thorn i.e. a crest of pointed feathers on the head) for a Lark in Persian. The Hindi name for this bird is , which may be from Sanskrit (having a crest). or, a basket, referring to the little cage in which it is confined as a pet. The cage being covered with at least two folds of cloth, the bird is not distracted and continues to sing even when it is carried about along a busy thorough-fare. 111
