82 THE ROCK THRUSH AND THE BABBLERS. 



Earth plays the part of Moses. She receives the 

 " old clo " and opens a shop, and her customers are 

 numerous and beggarly. The earthworm sneaks up 

 from the ground and draws a rotten leaf down into its 

 burrow, the white ants swarm everywhere, bargain- 

 ing for remnants ; earwigs and vagabond cockroaches 

 wander about, examining everything and taking no- 

 thing. In such a crowd it goes without saying that 

 there will be no lack of sharpers, pickpockets, and 

 cut-throats, making victims of the ignorant and un- 

 wary. These are called centipedes, scorpions, pre- 

 dacious beetles, wolf-spiders and so forth. In short, 

 the carpet of dead leaves which is spread in every forest, 

 grove, and neglected garden, affords a habitation and 

 a livelihood to a vast and very varied multitude of 

 creatures, which have this special interest for us to-day, 

 that there are many kinds of birds whose sole business it 

 is to look sharply after them. Among these are many 

 species of long-legged ground Thrushes, and foremost 

 among them is the Babbler. The Babbler is seldom 

 spoken of in the singular. The natives call it Satbhai, 

 the Seven Brothers ; in other parts it is known as the 

 Seven Sisters. You cannot think of it except as a 

 member of a small party. It may be a family party, 

 father, mother, and grown-up children ; but I do not 

 think so. I believe it is simply a social party. Among 

 animals there is not the same diversity of individual 

 character as among men, nor the same variety : all 

 the individuals of one species are cast pretty much in 

 the same simple mould. But for this very reason each 

 species exhibits more distinctly some one or other of 

 the elements that go to make up the complex human 

 character. IJvery virtue and every vice in the moral 



