110 Rev, J. Sibree^ Jr., on the 



Herons appear to be very abundant, such as the Common, the 

 Black-necked, the Purple, the White-winged, the Little Egret, 

 and some other species, especially the Buff-backed Heron. 

 Others, on the contrary, as the Dwarf Heron, the Night- 

 Heron, and Ida's Egret, seem very rare. 



The most common of the Herons^ as well as perhaps the 

 most noticeable bird one sees when travelling in any part of 

 Madagascar, is the Buff-backed Heron [Vuromputsy, i.e. 

 " White-bird ") . Wherever herds of cattle are feeding, there 

 it will be seen in numbers proportionate to those of the 

 oxen, ^' These animals it follows to feed upon the larva? of 

 insects which infest their skin and torment them unceasingly. 

 One may often see these Egrets perched on the back of the 

 oxen, and thus clearing them from their tormentors, which 

 sometimes become as large as a plum, and even occasionally 

 produce such exhaustion that the animals die from the 

 effects. For the natives, with their usual inertness, would 

 never think of taking any trouble themselves to free their 

 cattle from these pests. It is, therefore, not surprising that 

 such useful birds as the Vorompotsy are highly valued by 

 the Malagasy, and are almost venerated as agents of their god 

 Zanahary; so that they cannot see one of them shot by 

 foreigners without much displeasure, and they would think 

 it a kind of sacrilege were they themselves to chase or injure 

 them *. These Egrets are very fearless of man, allowing any 

 one to approach them prett}'- near, and only leaving the 

 cattle towards evening, when they repair to any piece of 

 water near them to bathe. At sunset they roost in the trees 

 of the neighbouring woods, leaving these again at daybreak 



* Mr. Cory, commenting on M. Pollen's description here quoted, 

 says : "Some tribes eat these birds, and always desire one to shoot them 

 for them." And Mr. W. Wilson remarks : " I hardly think that the 

 Egrets can be ' highly valued ' as tick destroyers, since what they do is 

 a mere nothing. They remove the white tick, which is harmless and 

 not feared at all by the natives ; but no animal will stand even for its own 

 care-taker to remove the flat tick, let alone the Egret with its very 

 sharply-pointed beak." M. Pollen's account is, however, so circum- 

 stantial that possibly the birds of the N.W. coast hud different insect 

 food from that which these Egrets live upon in the interior. 



