Maxwell:—
The Night-jar (Burong chĕroh^30 ) takes its name from the word applied to the
second stage in the operation of husking rice. Malay women husk rice by
pounding it in a mortar with a wooden pestle. The husked grain is then
commonly winnowed in a sieve, and the unhusked rice (antah) which remains
has to be separated from the husked rice and pounded over again. The second
process, which is called ckĕroh, is that from which the night-jar derives its name,
the quick fancy of the Malay hearing in the note of the bird the slow measured
stroke of a pestle (antan) descending in a mortar (lĕsong). This is possibly the
foundation of the legend that the Night-jar is a woman who, while engaged in
husking rice by moonlight, was turned into a bird in consequence of a quarrel
with her mother. Another name for the night-jar is burong chempak.
The Burong sĕpah putri (“Princess’s betel-quid”) belongs to the Honey-birds or
Bee-eaters, of which there are several species, remarkable chiefly for their
brilliant metallic plumage. [A quaint story is told in explanation of its name:
once upon a time the Owl (ponggok) fell in love with the Princess of the Moon
(Pŭtri Bulan) and asked her to marry him. She promised to do so, if he would
allow her first to finish her quid of betel undisturbed; but before finishing it she
threw it down to the earth, where it took the form of the small bird in question.
The Princess then requested the Owl to make search for it, but as, of course, he
was unable to find it, the proposed match fell through. This is the reason why the
Owl, to quote the Malay proverb, “sighs longingly to the Moon,” and is the type
of the plaintive lover.^31 ]
The Burong tinggal anak (lit. “Good-bye, children” bird) is a small bird whose
note is to be heard at the season when the young rice is sprouting (musim padi
pĕchah anak). As soon as her young are hatched out this bird dies in the nest,
repeating the words “Tinggal anak” (“Good-bye, children”), and the maggots
which breed in her corpse afford an unnatural nourishment to her unsuspecting
offspring.
Burong diam ’kau Tuah, or “Hold your peace, Tuah,” is the name of a small bird
which is said to repeat the words—
“Diam ’kau, Tuah,
K’ris aku ada,”