[2] The jungle babbler is a common resident breeding bird in most parts of the Indian subcontinent and is often seen in gardens within large cities as well as in forested areas.

The jungle babbler was described by the French zoologist Charles Dumont de Sainte Croix in 1823, based on specimens from Bengal.

It is a noisy bird, and the presence of a flock may generally be known at some distance by the harsh mewing calls, continual chattering, squeaking and chirping produced by its members.

[13] A study of their activity budget showed them to have greater similarity to social primates than to comparable birds.

In northern India, birds breeding during July–September tend to be parasitized by the pied crested cuckoo and sometimes by the common hawk-cuckoo.

[20] Visitors to India were very likely to notice these vocal and active birds and Frank Finn notes an incident during the Colonial period in India: Some years back, a new Viceroy was being shown the wonders of his temporary kingdom, and among these the Taj at Agra held, of course, an important place.

Arrived before the glorious monument of Eastern love and pride, the artless Aide-de-Camp was mute; the gilded staff were still as Kipling says, in anxious expectation of the comment of His Excellency.

The shock must have been the greater for the fact that the mean fowls thus honoured were it seems, of that singularly disreputable species which is commonly known in India as the "Seven Sisters" or "Seven Brothers," or by the Hindustani equivalent of sat-bhai.

[21]The Indian folklorist Saratcandra Mitra recorded a belief among the Lushai-Kuki people that during a solar eclipse, humans could transform into jungle babblers.