TROPICAL NATURE IN COLOMBIA 3<>5 



Often half a dozen of these little bats would settle over the roof of the 

 boat after dark and compel us to move elsewhere to sleep. 



Fiddler crabs swarmed among the aerial roots of the mangroves and 

 Sesarma crabs climbed about over the prop roots and trunks. Croco- 

 diles fished along the shore and the slapping of their tails was often the 

 last sound we heard at night. Among the trees there were thousands of 

 herons and many cormorants ; sandpipers swarmed along the shores of 

 the lagoons. Occasionally we met rarer birds, such as the beautiful 

 roseate spoonbill. 



Back of the mangroves along the shores of the Cienaga Grande we 

 had our best jack-lighting. As the light moved along the eyes of the 

 raccoons glowed like pairs of fiery cherries, now and then a deer 

 crashed in the brush, and occasionally a big ant-bear lumbered away 

 through the dark. Shooting at night is not easy. There is no target 

 but the shining eye of an animal. Nevertheless, Mr. Trout shot a fine 

 buck deer and a seven-foot crocodile. The former was hit in the center 

 of the forehead, the latter, though shot from a canoe, was pierced 

 cleanly through one eye. 



In closing I must speak of my two companions, Dr. A. G. Kuthven 

 and Mr. F. M. Gaige. It is no small test of friendship to be with two 

 other men day and night for three months in a strange country. One 

 has an excellent chance to become tired of his companions. But these 

 gentlemen were so cheerfully unselfish in bending every energy to fur- 

 ther the cause of science by making the expedition a success, so patient 

 during the trials which always come in a tropical climate, that, though 

 I had known and liked both for years, I came back home with increased 

 admiration and respect for them. 



VOL. LXXXVI. — 21. 



