Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/404

 348  finch longs for, and the sun-bird is sorrowful—but don't send the cardinal-bird (Fòdy), for when he meets a friend, he will forget all about it. The weaver-bird longs for, and the sunbird is sorrowful—so send the roller (Vòrondrèo), for he will both chirp and deliver his message."

The names of most of these Rollers are descriptive of their habits; and the Violet Roller is called Vòronkàka, which would appear to mean "Enemy", probably from some superstition about it.

Of the two other families of Wide-gaping birds found in Madagascar, the Goatsuckers and the Swifts, I have only to remark that their native names clearly recognise the nocturnal habits of the first, which are called Matòriàndro, i.e., "Day-sleepers"; while the Swifts are termed "Daywatchmen", "Day-birds", and "Day-bats", in addition to their more common name of Tsìdintsìdina, i.e., " Fliers", par excellence.

III.—The third Order into which birds are divided by most naturalists is the one which contains that large and delightful group of feathered creatures which are the principal songsters of the woods. There are about sixty species of found in Madagascar, the greater proportion of them being seen only in the lower and wooded regions of the island. The majority of these are of somewhat sombre plumage of browns and greys, with the exception of the Sun-birds, the Orioles, some of the Shrikes, the two species of Paradise-birds, and the Weavers. Many of the birds found in Madagascar are by no means deficient in the power of producing sweet sounds with considerable variety of note, and there are some few whose song has been considered to equal that of our European nightingale.

In several accounts which have been given by travellers of their journeys through various parts of the country, reference is made to the silence of the woods and to the apparent paucity of animal life. Now, while it is quite