288 BOMBAY DUCKS 



other half in robbing birds' nests. The green barbets 

 would take a prominent position among the noisy 

 members of bird society in any country. Their note is 

 loud, persistent, and penetrating ; but they are not found 

 in Madras itself. There their cousin, the coppersmith, 

 replaces them. He is not nearly so noisy as they, but 

 he is an untiring musician, and thinks it impossible to 

 have too much of a good thing, when that good thing 

 happens to be his own voice — a characteristic which he 

 shares with some human beings. 



Indian birds exist which have remarkably loud voices 

 for their size, to wit, the ubiquitous tailor-bird and the 

 iroa. These are so small that they would go comfortably 

 into one's watch-pocket, yet their voices can be heard 

 at a distance of two hundred yards or more. Were 

 these birds as large as the great hornbill, and their 

 voices increased in proportion, they would be formidable 

 rivals of the American bell-bird. But they are not as 

 big as hornbills, and we must take things as they are 

 and not include them among our noisiest birds. They, 

 however, deserve a place in the second rank, with the 

 crows, the babblers, the black partridges, the king- 

 crows, and the other minor poets. 



