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



attracted the attention of the Malagasy^ and is frequently 

 alluded to in their folk-tales^ proverbs, and children's games. 

 Of the first of these classes of native wisdom^ one or two 

 examples have been already given in speaking of other birds 

 (see above^ p. 226) ; of the proverbs referring to this bird, the 

 following may serve as specimens : — " Do not forbid to eat, 

 like a Fody/' probably meaning that the bird eats so much 

 rice that there is little left for the owner. The same vora- 

 cious habit is again referred to in the saying : " It is not 

 right to act like a Fody when the rice is ripe : tasting before 

 the owner.'' Again, presuming to be equal to one's betters 

 is reproved in another proverb, which says : '' A Rice-bird 

 (Tstkirity) going together with a Fody : it is not the leader, 

 but only a follower." 



Of the two other species of Fody less seems to be known, 

 since they are more strictly confined to the forest regions, as 

 one of their names of Fbdiala, or " Forest Fody," recognizes. 

 The Sakalkva Weaver-bird is termed Fbdisay, or " Lesser 

 Fody :" the male bird has a yellow head and neck, the rest 

 of the body being brown ; while the hen bird is entirely pale 

 brown. The Pensile Weaver-bird, as its name implies, builds 

 a beautiful and ingeniously constructed hanging nest, shaped 

 like an inverted chemical retort, which is suspended from the 

 extremities of the branches of the trees, and usually over a 

 running stream. These nests are about a foot or fourteen 

 inches long, the bulb giving ample room for the eggs or 

 nestlings, and the tube, forming the entrance from below, 

 being about four inches in diameter. In the upper forests 

 these nests are usually found singly, but in the lower forest 

 and coast regions M. Grandidier says that they may be seen 

 from thirty to forty in number, all hanging from a single tree. 

 (Mr. Baron, however, tells me he is confident that the 

 Weaver-birds building their nests in the numbers here de- 

 scribed are a different species from the one in the interior, 

 and that their nests are not retort-shaped. They are also 

 extremely tame, and build near the villages.) The native 

 name for this species, Fbdifetsy, i. e. the " Crafty Fody," 

 recognizes this skill of the bird in thus protecting its young. 



I 



