20 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



the differences are very soon perceptible if one studies- 

 the living birds. Your thrush is sleek, stiff, and 

 starch ; he is a musical artist, but allows himself no 

 artistic license in his dress which is neat to primness. 

 The Babblers, on the contrary, have a fluffy, frowsy- 

 appearance ; their tails hang loosely, and their wings, 

 which are short, are not neatly tucked up as they 

 should be, but he anyhow. Nor have they the 

 excuse of pleasing colour, such as many clumsy birds^ 

 can boast of ; a brownish grey, of " unparalleled 

 dignitude " as Baboo Jabberjee would say, is almost 

 the only hue visible in their attire, and is not parti- 

 cularly well set off by «, white eye like a jackdaw'& 

 and whitish legs and bill of an unpleasantly anaemic 

 appearance. There is, however, a real interest 

 attaching to these disreputable-looking birds. We 

 are all familiar with Lamb's appallingly ugly lady 

 whose facial turpitude was supposed to be atoned 

 for by the possession of superlative moral excellence ;. 

 and unquestionably fraternal affection is the strong 

 point of the babbling brotherhood. In the grave 

 pages of the Asiatic Society's Journal a friend of 

 mine has recorded his frequent experience of the 

 devoted courage with which these feeble-winged 

 creatures will rush to the defence of a comrade held 

 in the grip of a trained hawk ; on one occasion the 

 victim was actually rescued by its comrades before 



