Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
THE SONG BIRDS
THE BABBLING THRUSHES
True Babblers
The true Babblers (Argya), comprising upward of twenty species, are spread over the plains of India and Burma and thence westward through Afghanistan, Persia, and Palestine, well into Africa. About the same size at the last, they are mainly brown-plumaged birds, going about in small flocks and keeping to the ground or near it, and are very noisy when disturbed. They build similar, cup-shaped nests, generally placing them in high grass, and lay unspotted blue eggs. The Common Babbler (A. caudata) is found in small flocks in every portion of India proper, frequenting all sorts of country, including gardens, and appears to breed throughout the greater part of the year. About nine inches long, it has the whole upper plumage brown tinged with fulvous, each feather with a dark brown shaft streak, the tail olive-brown, cross-rayed, while the chin and throat are fulvous and the lower parts paler with faint striations on the breast and sides; the bill is brown with a yellow base, and the iris, legs, and feet are yellow.