418 Rev. J. Sibree, Jr., on the 



of water flowing over the rapids some little distance away, 

 and the hum of insects. It was a great enjoyment just to 

 sit and listen, and see the birds as they frequently flew around 

 us and over our heads. Among these were the Sbikely, a 

 species of Sun-bird, a very little fellow, which sat on the top- 

 most point of a bare upright branch ; the Railovy, a species 

 of Shrike or King Crow, with long forked tail ; the Grey 

 Parrot {Bolbky) , with a long repeated whistle, as if going up 

 the gamut ; the Vorondero or Roller, with its prolonged 

 wliistle ending in a sudden drop ; the Paretika, one of the 

 Warblers, with a creaky little short note, something like a 

 child^s rattle; together with these sounds was the kow-kow 

 of the Kankafotra Cuckoo, the varied mellow notes of the 

 Tolbho Cuckoo, the cooing sound of the Fbny or Wood 

 Pigeon, and also the call of one of the Hawks (Bemanana) /' 



Any one who has stayed at the edge of the upper forest"^ 

 during the months of December or January, and has quietly 

 watched for a short time among the woods, will not have had 

 to complain of any scarcity of bird-life to admire and study. 

 If we only remain perfectly still, the birds will come and 

 alight all around us, seeking their food as they hop on the 

 ground, or flutter from branch to branch. We may watch 

 their nests and see their eggs, and then the young birds, 

 noting from day to day how they develop, until one morning 

 the nest is empty, for its little inmates have found out their 

 power of wing, and have left to set up for themselves and 

 add another little company to the tenants of the Madagascar 

 forests. It may be truly said that the note of one bird or 

 another is never silent at this time of year all day long, while 

 some are heard also late at night. 



A circumstance worth noting about the forest birds is thus 

 described by the Rev. R. Baron, F.L.S. : — "The following 

 phenomenon, which I have many times witnessed in the forests 

 of -Madagascar, has often struck me as singular. The birds 



* A belt of forest, varying in widtli from 10 to 50 miles, surrounds the 

 highlands of the interior of Madagascar and follows the coast-line at no 

 great distance from the shore. On the eastern side it is divided into two 

 belts for a distance of about 250 miles. 



