82 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
season almost up to the line and ducks could be heard dibbling 
in the water, and the cries of the different species as they wheeled 
overhead was as thrilling as any music to me. In the stillness of 
the night sounds echo tremendously over water, and fantastic 
noises of groans, croaks, squawks and laughs issued from the 
reeds. 
It was only after several weeks, when the lake began to subside, 
that the natives started bringing in waterfowls. To accommodate 
these I had converted a trench with fresh running water into a 
pool by damming, and had made low reed shelters for the birds 
to hide in when anyone appeared, to prevent their becoming 
alarmed. The whole was fenced round with wire netting, and 
when a newcomer arrived one of its wings was clipped and it was 
then put in the pen. 
As the waters lowered and more and more natives got to hear 
that I was buying waterfowl, increasing numbers arrived with 
birds in baskets. It was always exciting going through them, for 
often there was a very mixed bag. The easiest to get were Hotten- 
tot Teal, which were brought in in numbers. They are minute and 
pretty but rather delicate until one knows their exact require- 
ments. In lesser numbers were Meller’s Duck—like a very large 
mallard—Red-billed Duck, Fulvous and White-faced Tree Ducks, 
Madagascar Pochard—a species confined to Lake Alaotra—and, 
more difficult to get, the White-backed Duck. The latter is a diving 
bird of the stiff-tail group and is most attractive. 
The most interesting of the reed-dwellers was Allen’s Porphyrio 
or Gallinule, a bird rather like a moorhen with its upper-parts 
olive-green, head black, and the underside dark purplish-blue. I 
cannot say for certain that I ever saw this pretty bird in the wild 
state and yet so many were brought to me that I had to refuse 
buying them. It is one of the skulking reed-dwellers easily trapped 
by natives, but which rarely shows itself outside of its natural 
retreats. 
The ducks were fed largely on paddy, i.e., unhusked rice, and 
duckweed, which grew profusely on any stagnant pool and in 
ditches. Many of the waterfowl, and particularly the gallinules, 
relished the seeds of water-lilies, which I had to collect by canoe. 
When the water-lily flower dies the seed-pod sinks after a while, 
