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



of genera peculiar to the island. One of these, Bernier^s 

 Swallow- Shrike, is a large bird, rufous-brown in colour. 

 Of this Swallow-Shrike M. Grandidier says: ''The male 

 utters a frequent plaintive little cry, and appears to be much 

 attached to his mate. If she falls by a gun-shot, he descends 

 like an arrow, placing himself near her on the ground, and it 

 is not difficult to take him. But when the male bird is killed, 

 the female, on the contrary, flies far away.^^ Another species, 

 Cyanolanius bicolor, as its name implies, is of two strongly 

 contrasted colours, blue above and ashy white below; another, 

 Leptopterus viridis, is blackish green above and pure white 

 below; while others, again, are reddish brown and white. As 

 none of these birds frequent the central regions, their native 

 names are mostly obscure ; some appear to be imitative of 

 their cry, as Tretreky and Tseteky ; while Fbndrapbry possibly 

 refers to the yellow colouring of the lower part of their 

 body. 



The Fork-tailed Drongo, the only representative of its 

 family in Madagascar, is a rather common bird, dark bluish 

 green in colour, with a long tail, forked at the extremity. 

 It lives in small companies, perching on dead branches, house- 

 roofs, or on cattle-folds, and dashing off frequently in pursuit 

 of insects, with a heavy clumsy flight. This Railovy or 

 Railombo, by which names it is known in the interior, is 

 alluded to in many of the fables and folk-tales of the Mala- 

 gasy as " a well-behaved bird, with a long crest, and having 

 a variety of note " (see fable quoted above, p. 21] , in referring 

 to popular notions about Owls) . One of the Railovy^s pro- 

 vincial names, Anddvy, seems to come from a root ddvy, 

 " an enemy,'* probably from some superstition connected with 

 it. M. Pollen gives the following, amongst other particulars, 

 about this bird ; he says : " The Railovy may be seen in 

 every part of the island which naturalists have visited. It 

 is a very active bird and an excellent singer. Perched on a 

 dead branch, it keeps up a constant noise, its strong voice 

 giving forth several notes which very much resemble those 

 of an organ. It also likes to imitate the cries of other birds, 

 especially those of the Tolbho Cuckoo. In the spots fre- 



