Bh'ds of Madagascar. 205 



tinted breast. Its name, which, with slight variations, is 

 practically the same all over the island (see List, p. 202), is 

 probably an imitation of its peculiar querulous cry. A Mala- 

 gasy verb, mihitikttika, '' to strut, to swagger," is probably 

 taken from the name of the bird ; oris the reverse the case? 

 Several native proverbs refer to the Kestrel's quick restless 

 flight and its frequent habit of hovering aloft, poised almost 

 motionless, or with an occasional quivering of the wings, 

 Avhich, in Malagasy idiom, is called " dancing ^^"^ [manddhy) : 

 e.g., "The Kestrel is at home in dancing, and the Little Grebe 

 [Vwy) is at home in the water;" "The Kestrel does not 

 forsake the precipice where it nests;" and "The Kestrel is 

 not hovering (lit. "dancing") without reason, for there below 

 is something (in the way of prey)." And again : "Dance, 

 O Kestrel, that we may learn also (to do it) when it is harvest 

 time." And its habit of sometimes driving away the robber 

 Pap^ngo, but itself appropriating the Kite^s intended prey, 

 is referred to in a proverb applied to one who was expected 

 to be a benefactor, but turns out an oppressor, thus ; " He 

 was thought to be a Kestrel to be honoured (or, to protect 

 the birds), but becomes a Falcon [Vbromahery) carrying off 

 the chickens." Among some tribes, or, perhaps, only certain 

 families, the Kestrel is a sacred or tabooed bird. M. Pollen 

 says : " Being one day hunting in the neighbourhood of 

 Anorontsanga, I killed one of these Kestrels, when a farmer 

 came to meet us, saying that I had committed sacrilege in 

 killing, as he said, a sacred bird. He begged me to leave it 

 to him, so that he might bury it in a sacred place. I hesi- 

 tated, except to grant him the beak of the Kestrel, which 

 had been broken by the shot. The good man, accompanied 

 by a slave carrying a load of sugar-canes, and happy to be 

 able to take away any part of the sacred bird, tried to express 

 his gratitude by offering me half of the load. I have, how- 

 ever, observed that this bird is not sacred among the Antan- 

 k^rana, the Betsimis^raka, and other tribes." In confir- 

 mation of this, the Kev. J. A. Houlder also says, " It seems 



* Malagasy daucing consists cliiefly in graceful posturing of the hands 

 and arras, with but little movement of the feet. 



SER. VI. VOL. III. Q 



