Birds in Sanskrit Literature 6. Malkohas and Sirkeers frequent undergrowth and forest or scrub- jungle and are seldom seen in the open. Their food chiefly consists of insects, grasshoppers etc. and also berries for which they hunt in bushes and trees. They are great skulkers and prefer to seek safety by foot rather than by wing and are expert in threading their way through tangled scrub and dense. bushes. They are generally silent birds and their voice is a soft chuckle or a croak. Te mentions three names for birds of the Cuckoo family together... करात, कोकिल, and अत्यूह (Hawk Cuckoo ) in the प्रतुद class. कैरात means 'forester and a dwarf () and is a most appropriate name for Malkohas and Sirkeers. The Small Green-billed Malkoha of South India is in Telugu, so that the allied bird of the North, viz. the Large Green-billed Malkoha should be the of. The following description of the natural secretive instincts of fear and applicable to the birds in question:- is fully 140 "पर्यन्ताश्रयिभिनिजस्य सदृशं नाम्नः किरातैः कृतं कुब्जा नीचतयैव यान्ति शनकैरात्मेक्षणाशङ्किनः ।” रत्नावली, 2.3 fefe according to the lexicons means a Cuckoo or a Koel, and fefgud 'a Parrot as well as a Cuckoo'. Now the Sirkeer Cuckoos are known as जंगली तोता in Hindi and 'Adavi chilluka' in Telugu, both names meaning 'Jungle-Parrot' from their green upper parts and red curved bills. Again, the Large Himalayan Green-billed Malkoha goes by the name of if (Jungle Cuckoo) in Bengal. A comparison of these local names with fefgur (of the nature of a fad) in its two senses makes it abundantly clear that the name fefgua like of really belongs to these birds of the Cuckoo family and not to the Cuckoo proper or the Koel. It is also a synonym for the red-breasted Paroquest or शब्दार्थ चिन्तामणि. in 7. Finally, the term 'e', name of a particular bird in the Fifth Pillar (Delhi-Topra) Edict of Asoka would seem to be the same as ¹, and evidently refers to the Malkohas and Sirkeers. It is also highly pro- bable that the age, a forest bird of the Himalayas, named in areware , Verse 2099, is the Larger Himalayan Green-billed Malkoha or one of the two Sirkeer Cuckoos, the Punjab Sirkeer and the Bengal Sirkeer Cuckoo, the latter of which also occurs in Nepal and Bihar, or all three taken as a group of skulking birds. Etymologically the name should mean one who is anxious about his personal safety and therefore conceals himself -in short a skulker, from plus or fea; Cf. fe concealed in secret (RV.4.5.8). The Pali name would thus seem to correspond to आत्मेक्षणाशङ्किन: descriptive of the कुन्ज people in the quotation from रत्नावली given above. 1. कंरात गेलात गेलाट- cf. Marathi आमटा for Sk. आम्नात, and Prakrit केटा for क्रेता, किरात-किराड, डin Prakrit is often replaced with . 38 PAROQUETS OR PARROTS 1. The Parrots of North India have been divided into two genera, one of which is represented by five and the other by a single species. They are all of a predominantly green colour and differ little in their habits. Though normally arboreal they are attracted in large flocks to ripening crops like paddy and sorghum (juar) to the great despair of the cultivator and have been regarded with birds like the Buntings (ar) as one of the natural calamities (fa:) befalling a country. All the same, their brilliant. plumage, quaint habits, "sedate and knowing demeanour" and, above all, their teachability to talk and perform tricks have endeared them to the people and made them one of the most favourite cage-birds of India from very ancient times. 2. "The Parrots rank as among the most intelligent of birds. The mere talking to which they can be trained is nothing. The wisdom of the bird judged by this standard, is inferred from the degree of appositences with which it utters its phrases." (Harmsworth Popular Science, p. 2978). The European students of Indian bird-life do not, however, credit any of the Indian species with ability to talk beyond a few words; nevertheless, Sans- krit literature attributes considerable ability to them in this respect and whole verses have been placed in their and the Hill-Maina's mouths. A couple of such examples are reproduced below:- A Parrot to his beloved Maina:- "आलिङ्ग प्रतिवाचमुगिर सुधाकण्ठि! क्व भूयो वयः । कोपं मुश्च मयि प्रसीद सुभगे ! नैवं विधास्ये पुनः ||" भाव-शतक 54 The following half verse may well have been taught to a royal Parrot in the ordinary way though the next two lines (not reproduced here) give it a topical setting. On the defeat of his royal patron, the bird, released from his cage, is supposed to address a painting of his master in the royal Picture-gallery: "राजन् ! राजसुता न पाठयति मां देव्योऽपि तूष्णीं स्थिताः । कुब्जे ! भोजय मां कुमार सचिवैर्नाद्यापि कि भुज्यते ।।" काव्यप्रकाश 10.94
