Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/252

 2 1 6 Collectanea.

Panjab Folklore Notes.

Next to nothing appears to have been done to collect the folklore of plants and animals in the Panjab, and the District Gazetteers and Settlement Reports are naturally almost silent upon a subject which is of no official importance or interest. The following items from such sources, however, seem worth recording.

The first extracts are from the late Mr. E. O'Brien's Gazetteer of Muzaffargarh : —

In Muzaffargarh owls, owlets, and goatsuckers, {ghugh, tilu, chebri, and buk), are birds of bad omen. The ghugh is called Kirakkd shhih, or the Kirar's tiger, because Kirars hold it in super- stitious dread.

Chdnh or blue jay. To hear or see it is a good omen.

Malhdld, butcher bird or shrike. To see one fly is a good omen.

Hil (Hind chO) is the kite, which is supposed to be female for six months and male for the other six months of the year.

Khan, a black and white lizard with a bluish tinge. There are all sorts of fables about khans. It does not copulate, but is found full-grown in the belly of snakes. It is supposed to be most deadly, though it is really perfectly harmless.

Jai khn khdwe khan Ma na dekhe jan.

" He whom a khan bites is as sure to die as if his

mother had never seen him born."

Galei. This is a lizard which is larger than the house lizard, and is supposed to be harmless. If a woman touch a galei before she makes butter, it will be abundant.

Salang vdsak, also called sdl pivnd ("the breath-drinker"), because it drinks the breath of sleeping persons.

Vais, a snake said to tie the hind legs of buffaloes together with its coils as with a kicking-strap, and to drink their milk.

Tir nidr or ghore dangan, udfid, or jatal is said to be a hairy snake.

What is the charohd {lit. washerman), described as a harmless snake, — and why is it so called? Why is the garwdnak snake also called sankan (" co-wife ") ? Why is the fish khaga {macrones carcio) also called trikanda ?