The babblers are not great fliers since they have short, round wings, and an unusually long tail for a flying bird. The differences range from extremely colorful to the drab, living near the ground or in the trees, and ranging in size from that of a wren to the crow.
 

 
Babblers are more prevalent in the areas of India, China, southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, Africa, and Madagascar. The wren-tit, though not usually considered that by most, is a babbler living in the Unites States Pacific coastal region from Oregon to Baja, California. They are divided into six tribes: scimitar and wren babblers, jungle babblers, song babblers, tit babblers, wren-tit and relatives, and the picathartes (rock fowl).

Most babblers prefer living near the ground of dense forests where food finding is easy. Through evolution, the babblers have not needed wings to search for food, hence the reason for their clumsiness in flight. Instead, they have developed strong legs for hopping and walking in the forest undergrowth. When not in breeding the babblers are known for their gregarious reunions and congregating in flocks, often consisting of several different species. The birds will huddle together on a perch and preen one another while continuing their babbling songs.
 

 
With breeding season, the groups split into pairs and stake out territory, which they will defend, or in other groups pairs may remain together with the flock. There are some species that practice community breeding, most breeding habits and rituals of the babblers is still unknown. They build their nests close to the ground and well hidden, or some build a domed nest with side entrances. The nest may be made from skeleton leaves, spiders' webs, and lichens.

Wren-tits may take a week to build their nest of bark fiber enclosed by cobwebs. They have been observed using only their bill to manipulate the twigs into place. The first step of the wren-tit's building process is to weave a saucer-shaped cobweb between the twigs to create the foundation. The web strands are then criss-crossed from one twig to the other until a suitable thickness has been reached. The wren-tit will strip old parts of stems by holding it in the bill and pulling backwards. The fibers are then placed around the rim and enclosed with the spider webs. The spider webs are sticky enough to hold the fiber ends in place. After the nest has been completed with pieces of lichen as outside decorations, the wren-tits will raise one brood a year. There may be from three to five eggs. The youngsters leave the nest at two weeks of age and begin hopping in the twigs. At three weeks it learns to fly and from five to six weeks of age they can fly, hunt for their own food, and help defend the territory with their parents.

Babblers belong to the Aves class, order Passeriformes, and the Muscicapidae family.

Source:

1. Burton, Dr. Maurice & Robert. The International Wildlife Encyclopedia Marshall Cavendish Corporation: NY 1969

Further Study:

Babblers family
Excellent source for info on bird families of the world. Great photographs and facts on the babbler species and their families.

Sylviidae
Old World family of warblers, wren-tits, babblers, and alughing thrushes. Good photos.