पृष्ठम्:Birds in Sanskrit literature.djvu/१३८

238 Birds in Sanskrit Literature उत्प्लुत्योत्प्लुत्य पतनैः परिगृह्यावपातनैः । मल्ला इव विदग्धानां हरन्ति प्रसभं मनः ॥ . IT., 6, 48-49 6. The term means a Hawk or Falcon according to M.W., and if it is the same as e, it should prove to be an excellent adnoun or epithet for the Goshawk. It means 'limping' or 'moving on one foot'. Now the Goshawk, despite its versatility, is "chiefly trained to catch hares and for this purpose she is booted or furnished with leather leggings to prevent her legs being injured by thorns as the hare generally drags the Hawk some yards after being struck. She strikes with one leg, and stretches the other one out behind to clutch at grass, twigs or anything on the ground, to put the drag, as it were on the hare" (Jerdon). It is thus highly probable that the adnoun refers to the Goshawk because she seems to 'limp' on the ground after striking her favourite quarry, a hare. If my interpretation of the term is correct it speaks volumes for the nature- study and power of observation of the ancients. 7. Hawks other than the Goshawk are listed with their names below. for easy reference: (i) The Shikra (Astur badius): Four sub-species of this occur in India proper, the Indian Shikra being the commonest. The female is far and the male, and at in . w. corresponding to for and respectively in Hindi. The female is recorded in F.B.I 2nd ed asतुना (?) in Nepal but she is सञ्चाण (सञ्चान) and the male द्रोणक or तोणक in मानसोल्लास. (ii) The Crested Goshawk (Astur trivirgat us trivirgatus) of South India is known as गोर बेसरा, कोटेसरा or मानिक बेसरा in Hindi. This is probably the form of .. as it lives prin- cipally on frogs and lizards and is hardly, if ever, fancied for hawking. (iii) The Northern Crested Goshawk (A.t. rufitinctus): This is known as चुरियारी and जमलकंठी in Nepal corresponding to Sansk. चूलिकाङ्क and fin . . and te respectively. This is the मध्यम वेसर of श्ये. शा. छुरिकार and छुरियारी of वर्णरत्नाकर appear to be the same as चुरियारी. (iv) The Asiatic Sparrow-Hawk (Accipiter nisus) two sub-species of which are known: The female and male of both are known as af and are respectively in Hindi. The Himalayan sub-species is the 'Indian Sparrow-Hawk'. They are perhaps the variety of the बासा in श्ये. शा., and ओरल of वर्णरत्नाकर The name बोरङ्गन seems to be from Persian औरंग meaning intelligence". 1. te probably refers to the Hawk's white breast streaked with rich rufous while मानिक-माणिक्य refers to the reddish streaks. Eagles, Falcons and Allied Birds (v) 239 The Southern and Northern Besra Sparrow-Hawks are two sub- species of Accipiter virgatus occurring in the country, the latter being a little smaller than the former. The Hindi names the female are बेसरा, खंड बेसरा, or खंडेसरा (fr. पण्ड a forest) corresponding to शुद्धवेसर of श्यै. शा. The male is धूति both in Hindi and Sansk. (w. T. 4.32). (vi) The Japanese, the Pale Eastern and the Indo-Chinese Sparrow- Hawks (A. gularis): The first is only an occasional winter visitor to India and the other two occur in Burma. No Indian name for them is known and they may well have passed as varieties of the Basha type of Sparrow-Hawk. 8. Two series of Indian (Hindi) names for different kinds of the Besra Hawk, taken from two different books on Indian Falconry (in Hindi or Urdu-not mentioned) have been quoted by Jerdon in his Illustra- tions of Indian Ornithology, 1847 and they are : (a) खंडेसरा, चतीसरा, सखुरता, and बेसरा (proper); (b) खंडबेसरा, खरबेसरा, जूतेसरा, भगुरीना, खोड खुरबेसरा and मानिकबेसरा*. He adds that the last three names in (b) may be different names for the same Hawk, and that while the Northern Crested Goshawk goes by the name of in South India it is known as fureft in the Eastern Terai (Bihar, and Assam?). the same way, referring to the Indian nomen- clature for the Shaheen Falcon and the Red-capped Falcon, both used in India for hawking, he observes that several varieties are enumerated, viz., the Red, the White, the Blue, and the Black Shaheens but these are merely differences of shade in the colours and in the more or less distinct- ness of the body markings. It is therefore highly probable that the classification of the group of Sparrow-Hawks in the . is not in accordance with the real species of the Hawks as now separated by scientists but is based mainly on their colour features and partly on size and behaviour as trained birds. Insofar as the Shikras (fr) have been included in the TT group the classification is definitely incorrect. The Shikra belongs to the fema () group of Sparrow-Hawks and is not a arer at all. With these preliminary remarks on the nomenclature of the smaller Hawks I proceed to a brief discussion of the various Hawks and their Sankskrit and other names. 9. The basis for the arer type of Hawks are evidently the Asiatic and the Indian Sparrow Hawks known as a and in Hindi. The . . divides them into four categories: . seem to be Like घंडेसरा (खंडबेसरा) the names चतीसरा and जूतेसरा corruptions of जूटबेसरा- (the crested Goshawk, of the फोटेसर) and खरबेसरा (the true (Besra) is the शुद्ध वेसर. भगुरीना, खोड and खुर बेसरा are extremely doubtful. कोटेस्वर (in F.B.I.) should be फोटेसर or कोटेसरा corrupted from कूट बेसरा for the crested Goshawk.