340 Mr. E. Newton's Second Visit to Madagascar. 
rock. As I was remounting the ledge to get to the narrow 
path I had come by (for I had gone down the slope about fifteen 
feet to get to the nest), I saw another Owl sitting on a nest 
exactly similar, and as the bird flew away knocked her down 
with a stick, and took the eggs also, four in number. It 
was about half-past three in the afternoon. I also disturbed 
several others, but could not get at their nests. * * * The 
Owls appear to roost all over the face of the precipice, at least a 
mile in length, on the western side of the capital, and go out at 
nightfall, cruising about the rock and over the town for a quar¬ 
ter of an hour. After that time they always flew straight away 
to the low country and rice-grounds to the west." The eggs 
measure from 1*82 inch to 1*78 inch in length, by 1*31 inch and 
1*3 inch in breadth, and are, of course, white. 
9. Caprimulgus madagascariensis , Sganzin. 
“ Tar-taro." 
Common on the coast. Mr. Maule killed one on a narrow 
spit of sand close to the mouth of the Hivondrona river, where 
there was not a blade of grass or covert of any sort within a 
hundred yards. At Fenerive, on the 18th of September, I shot 
a Night-jar off her eggs, which are in long diameter 1*08 inch, 
transverse diameter *82 inch, and of the same character as those 
of C. europceus , but rather darker in colour. The situation where 
I found them, too, was such as would be chosen by the latter 
bird. 
10. Cypselus ambrosiacus (Gmelin). 
Nearly everywhere on the coast I found this species tolerably 
common; the specimen preserved was killed at Soamandrikazay, 
on the 23rd of September. 
11. Phedina -? sp. indet. 
I saw examples of this genus at the village of Hivondrona, and 
again higher up near Ampasimaventy, but on neither occasion 
did they appear to me to be Phedina borbonica *. 
* I may here mention, with reference to my remark (Ibis, 1862, p. 270, 
note), that the hurricane of 1861 has not entirely exterminated this species 
