पृष्ठम्:Birds in Sanskrit literature.djvu/८३

136 Birds in Sanskrit Literature 'a Cuckoo' and also the 'red colour and it is suggested that because of the presence of red in the wings and the shape of the body and parasitic habits being those of a Cuckoo, the name fefgt suits this bird more than any other Cuckoo. सामधानमनसा" can 15. चातक in the well known verse of तु हरि beginning "रे चातक only be the Hawk Cuckoo which calls aloud and incessantly. Similarly the चातक of the following verse is again the same as the सारङ्ग चातक visits North India only during the rains:- "ग्रीष्मे ग्रीष्मतरः करैदिनकृता दग्धोऽपि यश्चातकः । त्वां ध्यायन् पन वासरान्कथमपि द्वाषीयसो नीतवान् ॥" भामिनीविलास, 1.33. I may here point out a slight error of interpretation of the following half verse:- "तरिकं प्रोषितभतूं वध्य पटहो हा हा हताश बकः। प्रावृट् प्रावृडिति ब्रवीति शब्धीः क्षारं क्षते प्रक्षिपन् । मृच्छकटिक, 5.18 Here the guilty bird calling "शाबूट्" "प्राबूटू" is of course a चातक for which the poet has used "ब" as a term of contempt and abuse, but Prof. R. B. Karmarkar holds too literally that the "wretched heron ('Stork' per R. B. Raddy and V. G. Paranjape) calling "प्राबूट्" "प्राबूट्" बक- Stork, Heron or the white Ibis-is in the first place too mean a bird to be seriously mentioned in describing the noble sentiment of love. Secondly, the Storks are voiceless; no Heron calls loudly enough or persistently, and the White Ibis just booms. It is only the birds belonging to the "" or "मङ्गस्य पक्षिण: like Swan, Goose, Flamingo, Peacock, Cuckoo and चातक that have been referred to in love poetry. Again, S. P. Pandit, quoted with approval by M. R. Kale in his notes on रघुवंश 5.17 is cate- gorical that the Crested Cuckoo has a long bow-shaped crest, pulled back and held fast by an arrow-like attachment which prevents any downward movement of the bird's head and bill, and it is therefore impossible for it to drink any but rain-water. I need hardly add that the idea is fantastic in the extreme, and the चातक birds have as free a neck and head as any other bird and there is nothing in their bodily structure to prevent them from drinking ground-water if they want to. Pandit was possibly misled by a verse like the following :- "नीलाब्जपुञ्जरजसारुणितान्विमुच्य स्वच्छाधाधिकरसानपि वारिराशीन् । 13. See derivation of किङ्किरात and other terms with the same base in शब्दकल्पद्रुग The word also means the Asoka tree which bears red flowers, and the red or yellow amaran- thus. Cuckons यश्चातकः पिबति बारिधरोदबिन्दून् मन्ये तदानतिभयाच्छिरसोऽभिमानी" ॥ सुभाषितावलि, 679 Not only Pandit but a lesser poet also has misunderstood the above verse when borrowing from it. 137 Like the कोकित there is ample poetic coinage for the चातक as well, e.g. मेघचिन्तक, घनतील, कुल, घाराट, जल, pic. B. NON-PARASITIC CUCKOOS 1. This group includes the Coucal (Crow-Pheasant), the Malkohas. and the Sirkeers, commonly known as Ground-Cuckoos as all of them are of terrestrial habits. The Coucal has a shining black body and chestnut- red wings; the large Green-billed Malkoha has a green gloss on the upper plumage and a hooked green bill; and the Sirkeers also have green in the plumage but have red and yellow parrot-like bills. All have long heavy. tails. 2. The Coucal is one of the best known birds of the country with a characteristic call, a deep and rather sonorous hoop-hoop-hoop, heard at all times of the day but more often early in the morning. As the calling progresses, the number of hoops frequently increases and sometimes as many as twenty-five hoops are uttered at a stretch. The oldest name for it is कुमकुम placed in the fवकर group of birds in चरक as it hunts mostly on the ground for insects, caterpillars, grasshoppeis, lizards, small snakes etc. Whistler notes that due to its heavy build, slow gait and the habit of feeding on the ground it is often mistaken for a game bird (faft). Other names for it are कुलालकुक्कुट, कुनालकुमकुमकुद, कुलाल, बुकुभ, and कुम्भ. Lexical synonymies are as under:-- वा (i) "कुम्भकारकुफ्फुटस्तु कुक्कुभः कुहरुस्वनः" कुम्भेति शब्दं करोति कुम्भकारः स कुक्कुट इव कुम्भकारकुक्कुटः कोकतेकुक्कुभः कुकु शब्देन भाति इति कुहक इति स्वनोऽस्यकुहुकस्वनः।" अभिधानचिन्तामणि "कुलालो धूक पक्षिणि कुक्कुभे"-हेमचन्द्र. (ii) (iii) "कुलाल कुक्कुट प्राः कुक्कुभं कुहकस्वरम्"हारावली. (iv) "कुलाल: कुम्भकारे स्यात् ककुभे (कुकुभे?) कौशिके" पेस्सूर, (v) "कुकुभः पक्षिविशेषः”–उणादि भोजीवानि The word "कुक्कुट" in the above compotind names simply means a bird' in general as in प्रासादकुक्कुट for a Pigcon. कुसाल or कुम्भकार means 'potter' and the sound of tapping or blowing into an empty eartherr jar seems to 14. Author of verses 1746 and 1786, in garfirarafia.