172 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



straight line, and capable of long continuance. The 

 hunting of these bats forms occasionally an amusement 

 during the moonlight nights. Each is watched till it 

 descends on a fruit tree, and then a discharge of small 

 shot will bring it to the ground. Four or five specimens 

 may thus be obtained in an hour. 



Most of the flying foxes inhabit trees, but some also 

 are found in caverns with various other species of bats. 



Mr. Pryor (a corresponding member of the Zoological 

 Society of London) had a curious experience respecting 

 bats in caves when he explored the caverns of North 

 Borneo, which are inhabited by the swift, which make 

 the edible nest so much prized by the Chinese. He 

 tells in "Proceedings of the Zoological Society," 1884, 



P- 534 : 



" After a rest I ascended the cliff about 400 feet. The 

 ascent is quite perpendicular. In many places ladders 

 are erected, and in others the water-worn surface of the 

 limestone gives a foothold. On the ascent I noticed 

 many orchids, begonias, ferns, and mosses I had not 

 seen elsewhere. My collector caught a snake I believe 

 to be an Elaphis, certainly the most beautiful Colubrine 

 I have seen, white and light grey. The Malays said it 

 was very destructive to the swifts, and also that it was 

 poisonous ; to convince them it was not, I allowed it to 

 bite me. At this point I found myself at the mouth of 

 a cave named Simud Putih i.e., the White Cave. The 

 entrance is about 40 feet high by 60 feet wide, and 

 descends very steeply, widening out to a great size, and 

 having a perpendicular unexplored abyss at its furthest 

 point. This cave is used by the nest-gatherers as their 

 dwelling-place, and at the entrance are their platforms of 

 sticks, one of which was placed at my disposal by the 

 head man ; it is also the cave by which the great body of 

 the swifts enter. Immediately outside it is a great cir- 

 cular opening leading sheer down into Simud Itam ; this is 

 one of the two openings mentioned as giving light to that 



