tits is the crested black tit (_Lophophanes melanopterus_). The
crested head and breast of this midget are black. The cheeks and nape
are white, while the rest of the upper plumage is iron grey.

There is yet another tit of which mention must be made, because he
is the common tit of Almora. The climate of Almora is so much milder
than that of other hill stations that its birds are intermediate
between those of the hills and the plains. The Indian grey tit (_Parus
atriceps_) is a bird of wide distribution. It is the common tit of
the Nilgiris, is found in many of the better-wooded parts of the plains,
and ascends the Himalayas up to 6000 feet. It is a grey bird with
the head, neck, breast, and abdominal line black. The cheeks are white.
It is less gregarious than the other tits. Its notes are harsh and
varied, being usually a _ti-ti-chee_ or _pretty-pretty_.

I have not noticed this species at either Mussoorie or Naini Tal,
but, as I have stated, it is common at Almora.

As has been mentioned above, tits usually go about in flocks. It is
no uncommon thing for a flock to contain all of the four species of
tit just described, a number of white-eyes, some nuthatches, warblers,
tree-creepers, a woodpecker or two, and possibly some sibias and
laughing-thrushes.

THE CRATEROPODIDAE OR BABBLER FAMILY

The Crateropodidae form a most heterogeneous collection of birds,
including, as they do, such divers fowls as babblers,
whistling-thrushes, bulbuls, and white-eyes. Whenever a systematist
comes across an Asiatic bird of which he can make nothing, he classes
it among the Crateropodidae. This is convenient for the systematist,
but embarrassing for the naturalist.

The most characteristic members of the family are those ugly, untidy,
noisy earth-coloured birds which occur everywhere in the plains, and
always go about in little companies, whence their popular name "seven
sisters."

To men of science these birds are known as babblers. Babblers proper
are essentially birds of the plains. In the hills they are replaced
by their cousins, the laughing-thrushes. Laughing-thrushes are
merely glorified babblers. The Himalayan streaked laughing-thrush
(_Trochalopterum lineatum_) is one of the commonest of the birds of
our hill stations. It is a reddish brown fowl, about eight inches
long. Each of its feathers has a black shaft; it is these dark shafts
that give the bird its streaked appearance. Its chin, throat, and
breast are ches