Birds of Madagascar. 433 



Its colour is slaty black, with yellow throat and neck, and 

 the male bird has a black head. 



The Tsikirity is a bird of the same family as the Fody, 

 but of a different genus [Spermestes) and much smaller. 

 M. Pollen remarks of it : " This charming little bird goes in 

 flocks of from twenty to forty in number in the cultivated 

 districts of the country. All day long one may see them in 

 large numbers crossing with rapid flight the rice-fields, 

 which they visit chiefly at the sowing time and in harvest. 

 [They are also said to pull up the newly-planted ketsa or 

 rice-plants.] They feed also on all kinds of seeds, especially 

 on that of the chamomile. The whistling cry of this bird is 

 like the syllables spiti-spiti, whence comes one of its pro- 

 vincial names. The places where the native women pound 

 their rice are regularly visited by these birds, which feed 

 upon the grain which falls from the rice-mortars and the 

 winnowing fans. One may often see a score of these Tsi- 

 kirity perched on a branch, and squeezed so closely together 

 that one might take them to be glued one to the other.'' 

 This little bird is much more plainly coloured than the 

 three other Weaver-birds, its plumage being dark brown, 

 the breast only having a warmer tint of reddish brown. Mr. 

 Cory remarks : " I should have said that the Tsikirity was, 

 in colour, greenish brown on the back, lighter on the breast, 

 with dark, almost black, markings on the throat, and I always 

 look upon it as a pretty bird. It builds almost everywhere, 

 like our English Sparrow, in thatch, or trees, or old nests. 

 Have you noticed how they fly in little ' bunches ' and in 

 perfect order ? If the leader rises, all rise.'' 



Two species of the Starling family are found in Mada- 

 gascar, both belonging to genera peculiar to the island. Of 

 the first of these {Hartlaubid) , M. Grandidier says that it is 

 intermediate between the Starlings, with which it is connected 

 by its external characteristics and habits, and the Thrushes, 

 to which, in the skeleton, the ^TarZ/aM^ia shows great similarity. 

 It is a large brown bird, with a monotonous chirp like that 

 of a Sparrow. They often perch together on a branch so 

 closely that half a dozen or more may be killed with one shot. 



