206 BOMBAY DUCKS 
hence the popular name Seven Sisters, or Brothers, 
applied to the commoner forms. “The man in the 
street” has no word by means of which he can speak 
of a single member of the species. It is impossible to 
talk about “a seven sister.” Nor is this defect in the 
popular vocabulary a serious one, for where, outside a 
museum, do you see a solitary babbler? Is it possible 
to think of one of these birds without a friend to which 
it can babble? 
These little Clubs are not mere family affairs, for a 
babbler is a monogamist, and has at the most four 
children ; and two and four make but six. Each little 
company of Seven Sisters is just an informal, free- 
and-easy, go-as-you-please Club, composed of members 
drawn together by identity of interest. Every babbler 
is greatly attached to its Club; even when bringing up 
a family the parents feed in company. The reason for 
this is not far to seek. 
A babbler is a feeble little bird. Its beak is but a 
puny weapon, and its power of flight is so limited that 
it is probably unable to take an uninterrupted journey 
of a hundred yards. It is, therefore, obvious that, 
had the species not learned to profit by the homely 
proverb “union is strength,” it would long ago have 
been swept off the face of the earth in the fierce 
struggle for existence. Thanks, however, to their clan- 
nishness, babblers are among the most widely distributed 
of birds in India. 
It requires a very smart fowl to circumvent a party of 
Seven Sisters. Directly one of them espies an enemy 
it gives the cry of alarm, This is followed by a general 
