2i6 JUNGLE FOLK 



sweet nothings one to another, the stranger un- 

 acquainted with their habits is apt to think that they 

 are angrily squabbhng, and that bloodshed must 

 inevitably follow. Such is the voice of the bird yclept 

 " canorus " by the ornithologist. 



Linnaeus appears to have given this species this name 

 under the impression that it was the Indian equivalent 

 of our English thrush, that it sat in mango trees and 

 warbled most sweetly. 



Hodgson made a gallant attempt to give the species 

 the more appropriate name " terricollor," but he 

 laboured in vain. The tyranny of the priority rule 

 proved too much for him. 



Ornithological pubHc opinion has decreed that as 

 regards the specific names of birds the race is to the 

 swift : the first name hurled at a bird, no matter 

 how inappropriate, is to be retained. This rule was 

 made in the hope of introducing some sort of order into 

 the chaos of ornithological terminology. But, far from 

 effecting this, it has called into existence a race of 

 ornithological pettifoggers, who spend their time in 

 rummaging about in hbraries in the hope of dis- 

 covering that some bird bears a name which was not 

 the first to be given it. Such a discovery means another 

 change in ornithological terminology. This is provo- 

 cative of much unparhamentary language on the 

 part of the naturalist, but gives the priority-hunter 

 unalloyed pleasure. 



Is it necessary for me to describe these misnamed 

 babblers ? Who is not famihar with the untidy 

 creature, with his dirty-looking brownish-grey plumage, 



