THE MAD BABBLER 229 



to convey an adequate idea of them to those who have 

 not heard with their own ears ? I ought to be able 

 to do so, for Allahabad, where I am now stationed, is the 

 head-quarters of the clan of large grey babblers. Argya 

 malcomi are to that city what the Macphersons are to 

 Inverness-shire. You cannot avoid them. The sound 

 of their voices is never out of my ears during the hours 

 of daylight. Some of them are shouting at me even 

 now. Yet words to describe what I hear fail me. The 

 only instrument made by man that can rival the call 

 of the mad babbler is the '' rattle " used at our English 

 Universities, or at any rate at Cambridge, to en- 

 courage the oarsmen in the Lent or May races. It is 

 the delight of two of these birds each to take up a 

 position at the summit of a tree and for one to com- 

 mence calling. He bellows till his breath runs short ; 

 then his neighbour takes up the refrain — I mean, hulla- 

 baloo — and, ere number two has ceased, number one, 

 having recovered breath, chimes in. In addition to this 

 rattle-like call the grey babblers emit a more mellow 

 note, which is well described by Jerdon as " Quey, 

 quey, quey, quo, quo," pronounced gutturally. Occa- 

 sionally one of these extraordinary birds bursts out 

 into a volley of excited squeaks, like the voice of 

 Punch as rendered by the showman at the seaside. 

 This I take to be a cry of alarm. The bird while utter- 

 ing it careers about madly among the foliage of 

 a tree, hopping from bough to bough with great 

 dexterity. 



Mad babblers go about, like the seven sisters, in 

 flocks of ten or twelve, and feed largely on the ground. 



