THE SEVEN SISTERS. 19 



that the mean fowls thus honoured were, it seems, 

 of that singularly disreputable species which is 

 ■commonly known in India as the " Seven Sisters " 

 or " Seven Brothers," or by the Hindustani equivalent 

 of sat-bhai. In books it gets called the Jxmgie 

 Babbler, the first part of the name being inappro- 

 priate, for it is found everywhere, and ' the last 

 singularly happy, for it does babble with a vengeance. 

 As may be inferred from their popular names, these 

 birds go about in small packs of about half-a-dozen — 

 there are not invariably seven, nor can these be a 

 family party, since only three or four eggs are laid. 

 They hop about searching for food on the ground 

 or branches, murmuring squeakily to themselves 

 meanwhile, and ever and anon burst out into a 

 startling volley of wheezy hysterical chatter, which 

 gets terribly upon one's nerves in time in a place 

 where they are common. Linnaeus, when he called 

 the bird Turdus canorus, the tuneful thrush, must 

 have been wildly ignorant of it, or have hopelessly 

 mixed it up with an ally and a real songster, the 

 huamei of China {Trochah'pterum canorum), which 

 he included under the same name. Modem orni- 

 thologists call our babbling brotherhood Crateropus 

 canorus, placing them in a different family from the 

 true thrushes, to which they nevertheless bear a 

 strong general resemblance in form and size. But 



