its plume or crest at the back of the head is mentioned in these: "Stooping down and showing the crest, like a stork stalking after a frog"; "Hair in a large knot, like a stork's plume." Its habits are noticed in the following: "Going along the stream, like the stork"; and, "A stork by the water-side; not sleeping, but in deep thought"; and its nest in these: "The stork finished a nest, so the owl gave himself airs"; and, "A stork's nest entered by an owl, the stingy one is injured by the evil one." (See also the fable previously given, p. 346, about the Tolòho cuckoo and the stork.) There is a pun, or at least a play of words, in these two: "Izay tàkatry ny aina, hoy ilay namahan-Tàkatra," i.e., "Doing one's utmost (tàkatra), said the one who was entertained by a Tàkatra"; and, "Toy ny alahelon-Tàkatra: raha faly, miara-mitokaka; raha ory, miara-mitokiky," i.e., "Like the Tàkatra's sympathy: when you are glad, he laughs with you; when you are sorrowful, he shrinks back with you"; that is, I suppose, it is all the same to him whatever befalls you, for his note never alters.
The names for some of this Order of birds are very descriptive; thus, the Open-billed Stork is called Famàkiakòra, or "Shell-breaker"; and the Spoonbill's name (Sòtrovàva) is of exactly the same meaning as in English; it is also called "Spade-mouthed". Several of the Ibises, as well as the Cormorants, are named from a word which means to "gratify, satiate, or indulge"; while the Flamingo's very long legs give its name of Sàmaka, i.e., "Disunited" or "Split". It is also called Sàmabè, "Large-mouthed", and Anjòmbona, from its trumpeting cry, anjòmbona being the name for a large species of Triton shell used as a trumpet.
VIII.—There are ten species of Wild-duck, Wild-geese, and Water-fowl found in Madagascar, and these are found in immense numbers in the numerous marshes and many small lakes and meres, as well as in the extensive lagoons of the eastern coast. Here again, as with so
