ye BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



England. Hence we may make a sub-species of the 



Indian bird and call him Passer doviesticiis indiais. 



Now, close and patient observation during a pro- 

 longed sojourn in Madras has convinced me that the 

 sparrow in the Southern Presidency (I will no longer 

 call it the Benighted Presidency, for experience has 

 shown me that there are other parts of India far more 

 benighted) is quite twenty per cent, more impudent 

 than the sparrows in Northern India. Hence we have 

 no option but to make a sub-sub-species of him. Let 

 us call him Passer domesticus indicus maderaspatejtsis. 

 We may go even a step further. The sparrows that 

 hold chorus along the ledges of the iron rafters of the 

 Connemara Hotel are far more insulting and exasper- 

 ating than any other sparrows I have set eyes upon. 

 This surely is quite sufficient provocation for making a 

 sub-sub-sub-species of those birds. I propose to call 

 them Passer domesticus indicus maderaspatejisis connemara 

 hotelwalla — a name which I am sure will be received 

 with acclamation both by sparrows and human beings. 



But enough of this foolery. The multiplication of 

 species is really a very serious matter, for it is likely to 

 deter sane persons from taking up the most delightful 

 of studies. If the ornithological societies of every 

 country in the world would combine to suppress the 

 evil, it could easily be put down. But there is, I fear, 

 no likelihood of such combination, because these socie- 

 ties are composed mostly of museum ornithologists, and 

 it is too much to expect of these men that they will 

 voluntarily suppress their chief enjoyment in life. To 

 persuade them to act in this altruistic manner it will be 



