J'Vest Indies, 471 



observations on the vampire of South America, as expressed in 

 the Wanderings. According to the accomits there given, " the 

 vampire (FespertiUo spectrum) is a species of bat, which sucks 

 the blood of man and every unprotected animal. There are 

 two species in Demerara, both of which suck living animals : 

 one is rather larger than the common bat ; the other measures 

 above two feet from wing to wing extended. " So gently does 

 this nocturnal surgeon draw the blood, that, instead of being 

 roused, the patient is lulled into a still profounder sleep." The 

 larger vampire sucks men and other animals; the smaller 

 seems to confine itself chiefly to birds. " I learned from a 

 gentleman, high up in the river Demerara, that he was com- 

 pletely unsuccessful with his fowls, on account of the small 

 vampire. He shewed me some that had been sucked the 

 night before, and they were scarcely able to walk." ( Waterton.) 

 Whether the vampire of India and that of South America be 

 of one species, perhaps some systematist will please to advise 

 us. — J.D.] 



Cats, their general Dislike to Water. [White's Selborne, 

 p. 82.) An instance of one which swam over two rivers to 

 return to her former abode. — In 1807, when living at Four 

 Paths, Clarendon, Jamaica, I wanted a cat, and had one given 

 to me, which was nearly full grown : it was brought from 

 Morgan's Valley Estate, where it was bred, and had never 

 been removed from that place before The distance was 

 five miles. It was put into a canvass bag, and carried by 

 a man on horseback. Between the two places there are 

 two rivers, one of them, named the Mino, is about 80 ft. 

 wide, and 2J ft. deep, running strong : the other is called 

 Thomas's River, which is wider and more rapid, but less 

 deep : on these rivers there are no bridges. The cat was 

 shut up at Four Paths for some days, and when considered to 

 be reconciled to her new dwelling, she was allowed to go 

 about the house. The day after obtaining her liberty, she was 

 missing; and, upon my next visiting the estate she was brought 

 from, I was quite amazed to learn that the cat had come back 

 again. Query, Did the cat swim over the rivers at the fords 

 where the horse came through with her, or did she ascend the 

 banks for a considerable distance, in search of a more shallow 

 place, and where the stream was less powerful ? [Instances 

 are recorded, Vol. IV. p. 430., of the domestic cat's sponta- 

 neously and habitually diving for fishes and rats. — J. Z).] 



Caprice of Appetite in Goats. Among my notes, in the 

 journal of my voyage to England from Jamaica, in 1823, is 

 the following : — " We have a grey goat on board, with as 

 strange a depravity of appetite as was shown by my old fellow 



H H 4 



