Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/411

Rh neck, is believed by the Sàkalàva to be an infallible remedy for disorders of the stomach, the native word for which is also kìbo. I think it is probable that the two words are of independent and different origin, and that the belief in the remedial value of the bird for stomach complaints has arisen from the similarity of the two words, a kind of homoeopathic principle of which Malagasy folk-lore (especially plant-lore) and superstition are full of examples, as may be seen by looking at Mr. Dahle's papers on Vìntana and Sikìdy ("Destiny and Divination") in the Antanànarìvo Annual, Nos. x, xi, and xii, or indeed by carefully examining the Malagasy English Dictionary. M. Grandidier relates a story about two young Màhafàly women having been saved from death by some of these quails, in consequence of which the bird has become a sacred or tabooed bird to their descendants.

VI.—Of the Order of Grallæ or, with its thirty species found in Madagascar, there is but little to be said from a folk-lorist's point of view, except that the names of many of them are very descriptive and appropriate. Thus, those of the Jacanas seem to contain a root tèty, "passed through", "walked on", and would therefore refer to the habits of these birds in stepping from leaf to leaf of the water-plants. Then those of some of the Rails mean "artifice, deceit, snare", and so refer to their tricks to escape capture; while another name means "ambush", no doubt from the bird rapidly taking to cover when hunted. So again with the Water-hens, some of whose names mean "to dip", "to plunge", referring to their constant habit of diving. In the same descriptive fashion the Sandpiper is called "Sand-stepper" and "Water-skimmer"; and the Plovers are termed "Runners", "Shore-birds", and "Roving-birds"; while the Turnstone, from its habit of warning other birds of approaching danger, is called Kitòry, that is, "Proclaimer", or "Accuser".

The Madagascar Rail is regarded with great respect by