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shallow water. They do this for the sake of the tender rootlets, 

 and perhaps also for insects. Of the jacanas, two species are 

 found here ; with their extremely long toes they walk easily 

 upon the large leaves of aquatic plants, seeking for the water- 

 insects which form their food. They dive with great ease and 

 are therefore very difficult to shoot. Six or seven species of 

 rail have been observed in the island ; the most common one 

 (Rallus gularis) is regarded with great respect, as it is believed 

 to bring rain in dry weather. Its loud whistling and tremulous 

 cry is heard chiefly towards evening. These birds are said to be 

 so careful of their eggs and young that they may easily be taken 

 by the hand from the nest. M. Pollen says : " I once saw a 

 hen-bird who would not quit the space near her nest, but kept 

 walking around it, ruffling her feathers, and dragging her wings 

 on the ground, in the same way as our domestic hen does when 

 defending her young. Other birds common to the marshy 

 districts are crested coots, curlews, snipe and plovers. Two 

 species of birds peculiar to Madagascar, for whom a special 

 family had to be formed, can only be spoken of by their scientific 

 name of Mesites ; " they are very curious and specialised birds, 

 taking their place between the rails and the herons." Accord- 

 ing to the native accounts, when the nests of these mesites, 

 which are mostly placed on a low situation, are flooded, the 

 parent birds drag them to where they will be free from injury 

 by the water. If anyone takes their young, they follow them 

 into the village ; and on account of this love for their offspring 

 they are considered sacred (fddy), because, say the natives, 

 they are in this like human beings. 



Not very far to the east of the second group of old volcanoes 

 mentioned above is the large village of Antsirabe (" much 

 salt "), which is about seventy-five miles south-west of An- 

 tananarivo, and is now on the automobile road to the Betsile'o 

 province. At this place one of the chief springs is largely 

 charged with lime, which has formed an extensive deposit all 

 over a small level valley sunk some twenty feet below the 

 general level of the plain around the village. For a long time 

 this place furnished almost all the lime used for building in the 

 capital and in the central province of Imerina. Besides the 

 deposit over the floor of the valley, there was also a compact 

 ridge-shaped mass of lime accretion, seventy feet long by 



