Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/403

 Rh purplish-blue Kingfisher, or Vintsy. By some tribes it is called Vòrombòla, "Money (or Silver) bird", and some native superstitions are connected with it; thus vc find it said that "The kingfisher and the black-moth are dead people who have been changed into animals. The common people reverence them, and say that they are their ancestors." And, again, they say," If you take the nest of a kingfisher, you become bald; if that of a brown stork, you become a leper." By the Taimòro people (S.E. Coast) its name is personified by the prefix Ra: Ravìntsy.

Passing by the Hoopoes and Bee-eaters, of which I have nothing to remark as regards folk-lore, we come to another family, that of the Ground Rollers, birds which live entirely on the ground, and only come out at dusk. One of these, the Kiròmbo Roller, called also Vòrondrèo by the Malagasy, plays a prominent part in the chants and religious observances of the western tribes. It is considered unlucky by the people, and it is said that if one of them settles on a house, the owners will leave it. There are a number of folk-tales in which a strange hairy monster called Itrìmobé plays a prominent part; and in one of these the Vòrondrèo appears and delivers the heroine from danger, as follows: —

This Roller also figures to advantage in the following piece, entitled "Don't send a fool on an errand": —

"The weaver-finch {Tsikiritv) longs for, and the sun-bird (Sòy) is sorrowful—but don't send the warbler (Fìtatra), for when he goes into the plantation, he will be off. The