33 BROAD-BILLS The Broad-bills, as their name indicates, are characterised by very broad and flattish bills. They are small birds (not over 10") but possess a beauti- ful plumage of striking colours-green, blue, black, and yellow. They are denizens of deep ever-green forests and insectivorous by habit. The Long- tailed Broad-bill is found throughout the Himalayas and Hodgson's Broad- bill is confined to the Eastern Himalayas as far west as Nepal. They buildi gigantic pear-shaped nests which are suspended from the end of a branch over-hanging a stream or pool of water. They are unwary birds and show no fear of man. They have a whistling call and are known as run (f) in Hindi though the name is more appropriate to the Long-tailed Broad-bill which is principally green and blue with some yellow and orange-yellow on the chin and throat. It has also a blue collar (f) and a pointed and graduated blue and green tail somewhat resembling the Parrot's. Its climbing habits when engaged in searching for insect food are very Parrot-like, and being familiar birds of the forests of Nepal and its foot-hills it must have had a Sanskrit name. I have, how- ever, not come across any for these birds, but the name for a certain plant could well have signified the Long-tailed variety, as birds and plants often share names between them. That it had a name after a Parrot is clear enough from the Hindi name of राइसुग्गा (राजि- शुक) from the collar consisting of a single blue stripe as against the two-or three-coloured collar of the Large Indian Parrot described as fariafa by poetin:- "तुण्डेराताम्रकुटिलैः पक्षैर्हरितकोमलः त्रिवर्णराजिभिः कण्ठैरेते मज्जुगिरः शुकाः" – २.६. The Parrot-bills were thus probably known as राजिशुक or शुकपुच्छक 34 WOODPECKERS 1. Woodpeckers are well-known Indian birds more than one species of which occur in every part of the country. Most of the species are adorned with a crimson crest in strong contrast with a pied and darker body-colour. दावघाट and काष्ठकुट्ट (v.I. काष्ठकूट) in Sansk and रुक्खकोट्ठक, कोट्ठ or कोट्टसातक (fr. Sk. वृक्षकुट्टक, कोष्ठ, or कोष्ठसाद ) in Pali are common names for all Wood- peckers. If the element are in trafare has anything do with the Vedic amfe for 'a musical rattle', this name should be regarded as primarily applicable to the 'drumming Woodpeckers' like the Great Slaty, the Scaly-bellied Green and the Yellow-fronted Pied Woodpeckers which produce a vibrating noise, "louder than a watchman's rattle", with quickly repeated blows of their beak on a branch or bamboo, and thence by extension to any Woodpecker. In its original sense, therefore, the name arafure would mean, 'one who makes music on wood or bamboo'. Generally speaking, however, no such distinction is observed and both the names are commonly applied to all birds of the family. One of them figures as काष्ठकूट in the चटकदम्पती story in the मित्रभेद section of पञ्चतन्त्र; as सतपत्त (शतपन) in the कुरंगमिग जातक (206) and as इनखकोट्ठकसकुण (वृक्षकुट्टक शकुन ) in कंदगलकजातक (210). वृक्षकुक्कुट in M. Williams is perhaps a mistake for वृक्षकुट्टक, cf. Pali एक्खकोटक for a Woodpecker. 2. The Great Slaty Woodpecker of the Himalayan Terai and nearby plains is a magnificent bird (20 inches) of an ashy grey plumage with a pale crimson patch below the eye and saffron-yellow, tinged with red, throat and foreneck. It is not a shy bird moves in parties of four to ten or twelve, and is very noisy. The call is a peculiar and quite distinctive whinnying note, and the drumming noise it makes "starts with slow very resonant taps which get faster and faster, finishing off with a series of rolling reverberations which can be heard at a great distance" (S. Baker), m means (i) the Large Indian Parrakeet, (ii) the Peacock, and (iii) a Wood- pecker. Evidently the term is both an epithet and a substantive specifying the largest bird in each group. मत्स्य पुराण mentions शतपन and काष्ठकुक्कुट (in- correct for as the Jungle fowl is separately mentioned as ) as different and the former is clearly meant for this grand Woodpecker. 1. 118, 49 & 53.
