In cutting the rice the Malagasy use a straight-bladed knife; and, as the work proceeds, the stalks are laid in long curving narrow lines along the field, the heads of one sheaf being covered over by the cut ends of the stalks of the next sheaf. This is done to prevent the ears drying too quickly and the grain falling out before it reaches the threshing-floor. This last-named accessory to rice-culture is simply a square or circle of the hard red earth, kept clear from grass and weeds, sometimes plastered with mud, and generally on the sloping side of the rising ground close to the rice-field. Here the sheaves are piled round the threshing-floor like a low breastwork. (Occasionally the rice is threshed in a space in the centre of the rice-field, mats being spread over the stubble to prevent loss of the grain.) No flail is used, but handfuls of the rice-stalks are beaten on a stone fixed in the ground, until all the grain is separated from the straw. The unhusked rice is then carried in baskets to the owner’s compound and is usually stored in large round pits with a circular opening dug in the hard red soil. These are lined with straw, and the mouth is covered with a flat stone, which is again covered over with earth; and in these receptacles it is generally kept dry and uninjured for a considerable time. [Sidenote: BEAUTIFUL BIRDS] In most years the end of April and the beginning of May are very busy times with the Malagasy; almost all other work must give way to the getting in of the harvest; the fields are everywhere dotted over with people reaping; most of the poorer people we meet are carrying loads of freshly cut grain on their heads, or baskets filled with the unhusked rice, and large quantities are spilt along the roads and paths. Some of the chief embankments swarm with rats and mice, which must pick up a very good living at this time of the year. Other creatures also take toll from the harvest, especially the _Fòdy_, or cardinal-bird, the bright scarlet plumage of the cock-bird making a very noticeable feature of the avi-fauna during the warmer months. This colour is not seen on the wings, which are sober brown, but is brilliant on head, breast and back; it fades away in the winter months, returning again as the breeding-time comes round. The white egret, which we saw on the coast, is equally in evidence in Imèrina, and sometimes flocks of two or three hundred of them may be seen in the rice-fields and marshes. When living at Ambòhimànga we used to notice that in the winter months a large number of the _Vòrompòtsy_ were accustomed to assemble on the open down towards sunset; and on a signal apparently given by one of them the whole flock rose and flew slowly away to roost in the large trees to the north-west of the town. The white-necked crow is also plentiful, and is perhaps the most commonly seen bird in Imèrina. On one occasion when walking with a friend near Ambòhimànga, he had his gun and shot one of a small