n 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 distinction--warblers that stand out from among
their fellows on account of their architectural skill, their peculiar
habits, or unusual colouring. The famous tailor-bird (_Orthotomus
sartorius_) is the best known of the warblers distinguished on account
of architectural skill. As a warbler of peculiar habits, I may cite
the ashy wren-warbler (_Prinia socialis_), which, as it flits about
among the bushes, makes a curious snapping noise, the cause of which
has not yet been satisfactorily determined. As warblers of unusual
colouring, the flycatcher-warblers are pre-eminent. In appearance
these resemble tits or white-eyes rather than the typical quaker-like
warblers.

_Cryptolopha xanthoschista_ and Hodgson's grey-headed
flycatcher-warbler are the names that ornithologists have given to
a very small bird. But, diminutive though he be, he is heard, if not
seen, more often than any other bird in all parts of the Western
Himalayas. It is impossible for a human being to visit any station
between Naini Tal and Murree without remarking this warbler. It is
no exaggeration to state that the bird's voice is heard in every second
tree. Oates writes of the flycatcher-warblers, "they are not known
to have any song." This is true or the reverse, according to the
interpretation placed on the word "song." If song denotes only sweet
melodies such as those of the shama and the nightingale, then indeed
flycatcher-warblers are not singers. Nevertheless they incessantly
make a joyful noise. I can vouch for the fact that their lay is heard
all day long from March to October. Before attempting to describe
the familiar sound, I deem it prudent to recall to the mind of the
reader the notice that once appeared in a third-rate music-hall:--"The
audience are respectfully requested not to throw things at the
pianist. He is doing his best." To say that this warbler emits
incessantly four or five high-pitched, not very musical notes, is to
give but a poor rendering of his vocal efforts, but it is, I fear, the
best I can do for him. He is small, so that the volume of sound he
emits is not great, but it is penetrating. Even as the cheery lay of
the _Ot