204 BOMBAY DUCKS 
birds, and they flourish under their republican con- 
stitution. There must be close upon a hundred 
species of babblers scattered over India. The family 
is an enormous one, and the most characteristic ornitho- 
logical feature of the country. Go where you will in 
the “Land of Regrets,” you will not be able to dodge 
the babblers. In every station, whether on the hills or 
plains, you will be confronted by companies of Seven 
Sisters. 
In scarcely any two provinces will the same species 
greet you, but you will have no difficulty in recognizing 
each new form as a near relation of those you have 
already met. “I have often amused myself,’ says 
Jerdon, writing of the sisterhood, “in imagining that 
they are not inapt representatives of the Hindus; 
certainly as far as their frequent congregating together, 
and their incessant noisy chattering and gabbling, 
they agree; and were I disposed to carry on the 
similitude further, it would not, I think, be a difficult 
task. It is not a little remarkable, too, that in southern 
India there are several kinds which in some measure 
correspond in geographical distribution with the princi- 
pal Hindu races of this part of the country.” 
What gives these birds so strong a family likeness 
is the slovenly appearance they all present. Babblers 
represent all the degrees of untidiness. First and 
foremost comes the Cvateropus canorus, the common 
babbler of the plains of Upper India. This bird looks 
as though it were in imminent danger of falling to 
pieces ; its tail appears to hang by a mere thread, and 
its wings droop as if they were broken. 
