MADAGASCAR (1) 77 
and White-faced Tree Ducks. Some of the waterfowl prefer to 
sleep on the open water, making excursions at night to the neigh- 
boring rice-fields to feed. 
My companions stayed only a fortnight—a busy one for them, 
as not only did they shoot a large variety of birds themselves, but 
native hunters with guns added to the daily bag, and these speci- 
mens all had to be measured, skinned, cleaned and preserved. 
Meanwhile I had got the loan of a dugout canoe and spent 
much time among the reed-beds, becoming familiar with the dif- 
ferent species of waterfowl and learning something of their habits. 
I was quickly able to distinguish all the species by their flight and 
became familiar with their calls. 
The more I got to know of the lake, the more fascinating it 
became. At its northern end it is particularly picturesque as there 
it is flanked by high hills, and its winding shores are studded 
with promontories on which hamlets of the Sihanaka tribe are 
perched. 
The view from any adjacent hill-top is delightful as one can 
get some idea of the varied animal-life which the fringe of the 
lake supports. Native cattle, pigs and geese, feeding in the herbage 
in the swamps; flocks of ibises probing in the mud for insects; 
jacanas, gallinules, stilts, moorhens and rails, seeking their food 
in and around the reed-beds, are some of the things which add to 
the glory of the general view. 
It is an unforgettable experience to thread one’s way quietly 
through the reeds in a native dugout canoe, getting close-up 
glimpses of numerous water-loving birds, and then to find one- 
self on the edge of a pool hemmed in by papyrus and covered with 
blue water-lilies and the beautiful mauve flowers of the water- 
hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes). In these ideal surroundings Pygmy 
Geese and White-backed Duck while away their time. 
Occasionally a native may be seen sitting motionless in his canoe 
ready to strike with his barbed spear at some unsuspecting fish, 
while nearby a heron with a statue-like poise is bent on the same 
purpose. 
The native pigs here have developed hippopotamus-like habits 
in their eagerness to devour the floating water-hyacinths which 
they adore. In canoeing I frequently came across odd pigs in a 
