430 Rev. J. Sibree, Jr , on the 



but we find Sbikely, '^ Little Soy ; " Sbimanga, " Beautiful 

 Soy;" Sbiangaly, "Capricious Soy;'^ and also Dandwna, 

 possibly meaning " Stepper/^ The word Soy is also redu- 

 plicated in another name, Soisoy. 



Coming to the next family, Hirundinidse^ we find in Mada- 

 gascar only two species — a Swallow and a Sand- Martin, both 

 peculiar to this island. Of the first of these_, M. Pollen 

 observes its flight is very rapid, resembling that of the 

 European Swallow. He also says : " 1 saw at Ambasbana 

 a large flock o£ Swallows gathering together to set off for 

 another part of the country. This flock formed a perfect 

 cloud of birds ; for ten minutes or so they darted backwards 

 and forwards over the plain ; they then immediately directed 

 their course for the south-east, all uttering simultaneously 

 the same cry." 



Some of the native names for this Swallow evidently refer 

 to its rapid flight, and contain the root riotra, " rushing, 

 passing rapidly," as in Kmondanitra, " Sky-rusher," and 

 Firtotsandro, " Day-rusher." It also shares the name of 

 Sidintsidina, the "^ Flier," j^ar excellence, with its distant 

 relatives the Swifts (see above, p. 227). 



The only species of the next family (Motacillidae) in our list 

 is the Yellow-bellied Wagtail, which is tolerably common 

 along the streams in all parts of Madagascar. In its habits 

 and appearance it seems to differ little, if at all, from the 

 European species. It is often called Fandmfasika, " Sand- 

 stepper," a name it shares with a species of Sandpiper, which 

 is also very plentiful. Its other names [Tnotrw, Trwtrwtsa, 

 &c.) are probably imitative of its cry. 



We now come to the Weaver-birds, of which four species 

 are found in Madagascar. 



As will be seen by the Tabular List (p. 441), there are 

 three species of Weaver-birds called by the Malagasy 

 Fody, either in its simple form or compounded with some 

 other word ^. The most common as well as prominent 



* The meaning of tlie word Fody I am unable to explain ; probably it 

 is one of the many names which the Malagasy brought with them from 

 their distant fatherland. 



