BIXA 



ORELLANA THE ECONOMIC BIRDS OF INDIA 



Arnotto 



North- West Himalaya from Garhwal to Hazara. i. satyra, the Crimson 

 Horned Pheasant, the lungi, omo, bap, tar-rhyak, etc. Eastern Himalaya 

 from Garhwal to Bhutan. These two pheasants are sometimes called the 

 Argus by European sportsmen, and their skins are generally sold under that 

 name the true Argus occurs in the Malay Peninsula. 



Hoopoe. Upupa epops (I.e. iii., 159), the European Hoopoe and V. indlt-n, the 



Indian Hoopoe or hudhud, sutdr, kondeh pitta, chaval kuruvi, toun-bee-sote, etc. 

 The former is met with hi the Himalaya and on the plains of Northern and 

 Central India, and the latter throughout India and Burma, except Sind and 

 the Western Panjab. Both birds are extensively slaughtered on account of 

 their plumage. [Cf. E. H. A. in Times of India, Sept. 29, 1899.] 

 Trade in Birds, Skins, etc. 



Trade. (d) Feathers. The above are the chief birds killed for their brilliant 



feathers, but all birds with bright- coloured plumage may be and occa- 

 sionally are killed for that purpose, such as the honey-suckers, bitterns, 

 jays, water-hens, bee-eaters, orioles, shrikes, bulbuls, grebes and horn- 

 bills. The trade in these and such-like is a very ancient one. Varthema 

 (Travels, 1510 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 200), speaking of Tenasserim, alludes to 

 the sword-hilts made of the helmet-hornbill. The modern trade in feathers 

 of all kinds fluctuates greatly. In 1880-1 the exports were valued at 

 Rs. 2,69,447 ; in 1884-5 at Rs. 6,33,017 ; in 1887-8 at Rs. 5,70,495 ; 

 in 1895-6 at Rs. 5,55,185, since which date it appears to have declined 

 materially ; in 1900-1 it stood at Rs. 1,35,440 ; in 1901-2 at Rs.l, 79,618 ; 

 in 1902-3 at Rs. 88,691 ; in 1903-4 at Rs. 5,093 ; in 1904-5 at Rs. 880 ; 

 in 1905-6 at Rs. 4,416 ; in 1906-7 at Rs. 1,437. In former years the 

 major portion of these exports went usually to the United Kingdom, 

 which took in 1895-6, Rs. 4,18,006; in 1902-3, Rs. 60,000; and in 

 1906-7, nil. More recently to China (Hongkong), which took in 1895-6, 

 Rs. 58,562 ; in 1902-3, Rs. 23,387 ; and in 1906-7, Rs. 1,350. Practically 

 the balance on these valuations of the total for the years in question goes 

 to the Straits. The imports of feathers are unimportant. As a natural 

 consequence of recent legislation the portions of this traffic concerned in 

 the foreign supply will be discontinued. 



(e) Quills. The traffic in bird-quills is unimportant. Peacock 

 quills are used in embroidering leather, as for example in the small boxes 

 made at Bilaspur and Anandpur in the Panjab, etc. Porcupine quills are to 

 a small extent employed in South India, mainly in veneering fancy boxes. 



BIXA ORELLANA, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., i., 190 ; Pomet, Hist 

 Drugs. (Engl. ed.), 1712, 224; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 38 ; Cooke, Fl. 

 Pres. Bomb.; i., 53 ; Duthie, Fl. Upper Gang. Plain, i., 58 ; Burkill, Agri. 

 Ledg., 1904, No. 12 ; BIXINEJE. The Annatto or Arnotto, roucou, 

 urucu (Brazil), latkan, koug kuombi, jarat, Jcisri, jafra, kuragu-mangjal, 

 rangamali, thi-din. 



A shrub originally a native of America and now largely cultivated in India 

 for the dye afforded by its seeds. It is very common in S. India, and believed 

 to be there almost completely naturalised. Hove speaks of its cultivation in 

 Bombay in 1787, and Buchanan-Hamilton (Stat. Ace., Dinaj., 1833, 155) mentions 

 that " the Bixa, an American plant, is now rapidly spreading over Bengal." 

 Occasionally planted for ornament, especially in Ceylon ; the least touch of 

 frost is fatal, but it will grow almost anywhere within the tropics where the 



rainfall is 50-60 inches. The plants make a good hedge or wind-break. 



Two Forms. There are two forms, one having white flowers and greenish capsules, 



the other pink flowers and red capsules. The pink-flowered form is viewed as 

 most desirable though it is not always the most easily grown, although one or 

 other exists throughout tropical India. Fuller particulars of the distribution 

 and cultivation will be found in Mr. Burkill's Review of Existing Knowledae 



142 



Legislation. 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. i., 

 387. 



D.E.P., 



i., 454-7. 



Arnotto 



Dye. 



Introduction 

 into India. 



