zA W^^^BLETi OF DISTINCTION 



So great is the number of species of warbler 

 which either visit India every winter or remain 

 always in the country, so small and insignificant 

 in appearance are these birds, so greatly do 

 they resemble one another, and so similar are 

 their habits, that even the expert ornithologist 

 cannot identify the majority of them unless, 

 having the skin in one hand and a key to the 

 warblers in the other, he sets himself thinking 

 strenuously. For these reasons I pay but little 

 attention to the warbler clan. Usually when 

 I meet one of them, I am content to set him 

 down as a warbler and let him depart in peace. 

 But I make a few exceptions in the case of 

 those that I may perhaps call warblers of dis- 

 tinction — warblers that stand out from among 

 their fellows on account of their architectural 

 skill, their peculiar habits, or unusual colour- 

 ing. The famous tailor-bird (Orthotomus 

 sartor ius) is the best known of the warblers 

 distinguished on account of architectural skill. 



As a warbler of peculiar habits, I may cite the 

 145 K 



