345 
Mr. E. Newton’s Second Visit to Madagascar. 
taining three eggs, supported between three or four bulrushes • 
and though at the time the water was low, the base of the nest 
actually touched it. It is very neatly made, and in shape much 
resembles that of Salicaria arundinacea; it is composed of decayed 
stems and leaves of grass and one or two feathers; inside it is 
lined with fine bents and feathers. The eggs measure *77 inch 
in long diameter by *57 inch in transverse diameter; they are 
pale greyish white, thickly spotted and blotched with pale lilac, 
brownish orange, and hair-brown. Iris hazel, upper mandible 
dark brown, lower mandible dusky orange, inside of the mouth 
and tongue bright orange, legs brownish lead-colour. 
25. Pratincola sibylla (Linnseus). 
“ Fetah.” 
Is very common on the open country in the neighbourhood of 
Foule Point. Its song resembles that of the European species. 
On the 19th of September, between Fenerive and Foule Point, I 
found a nest of this species, containing three eggs, in a tuft of 
coarse grass. The eggs are of a pale greenish blue, thinly freckled 
and streaked with light rust-colour, very like some examples of 
P. rubicola. Long diam. *78 inch, transverse diam. *58. Iris 
dark brown, beak and legs black. 
26. Gervaisia albospecularis (Eydoux & Gervais). 
“Todeah.” 
I am indebted to Mr. Caldwell for a skin of this species (the 
first I had seen), obtained at Betanaombe, near Tamatave, July 
the 8th, 1862. I observed it, on our way from Foule Point, in the 
scrub by the sea-side; but on the coast I do not think it is very 
common. Some fifteen or twenty miles up the Hivondrona we 
found it in considerable numbers. In its habits it resembles a 
Bedstart, perhaps, more than a Stonechat; the male, perched on 
a tall branch, sings a loud but monotonous song, every now and 
then descending to pick up some small insect from the ground 
and returning to its post, while his mate seeks the shelter of the 
bushes and does not readily show herself. At Chasmanna, on the 
2nd of October, I found a nest of this species in the stump of 
an old tree which had been cut off roughly some six feet from the 
ground; it was placed in an indentation about halfway up, quite 
