and to one another in
much the same relationship as does the honest Breton peasant to the
inhabitant of the Quartier Latin in Paris.

Black bulbuls belong to the genus _Hypsipetes_. Three species occur
in India--the Himalayan (_H. psaroides_), the Burmese (_H.
concolor_), and the South Indian (_H. ganeesa_). All three species
resemble one another closely in appearance. Take a king-crow
(_Dicrurus ater_), dip his bill and legs in red ink, cut down his
tail a little, dust him all over so as to make his glossy black plumage
look grey and shabby, ruffle his feathers, apply a little _pomade
hongroise_ to the feathers on the back of his head, and make some
of them stick out to look like a dilapidated crest, and you may flatter
yourself that you have produced a very fair imitation of a black bulbul
as it appears when flitting about from one tree summit to another.
Closer inspection of the bird reveals the fact that "black" is
scarcely the right adjective to apply to it. Dark grey is the
prevailing hue of its plumage, with some black on the head and a
quantity of brown on the wings and tail.

The Himalayan species has a black cheek stripe, which the other forms
lack; but it is quite unnecessary to dilate upon these minute
differences. I trust I have said sufficient to enable any man, woman,
or suffragette to recognise a noisy black bulbul, and, as the
distribution of each species is well defined and does not overlap
that of the other species, the fact that a bird is found in any
particular place at once settles the question of its species. The
South Indian bird occurs only in Ceylon and the hills of South-west
India; hence Jerdon called this species the Nilgiri or Ghaut black
bulbul. Men of science in their wisdom have given the Himalayan bird
the sibilant name of _Hypsipetes psaroides_. The inelegance of the
appellation perhaps explains why the bird has been permitted to retain
it for quite a long while unchanged.

I have been charged with unnecessarily making fun of ornithological
nomenclature. As a matter of fact, I have dealt far too leniently
with the peccadillos of the ornithological systematist. Recently a
book was published in the United States entitled _The Birds of
Illinois and Wisconsin_. Needless to state that while the author was
writing the book, ornithological terminology underwent many changes;
but the author was able to keep pace with these and with those that
occurred while the various proofs were passing