I70 JUNGLE ISLAND 



nequi is one of the large South American rodents 

 that are found only in the rainy tropics. 



Conejos (pronounced ko-na'hos) lived in holes 

 too. They are also rodents, and look somewhat 

 like large guinea pigs. Indeed, they are related 

 to guinea pigs, which grow wild in South America. 

 The natives hunt and eat these as we hunt rabbits. 



In the late dusk of the evening bats came out 

 and flew about the camp clearing, chasing insects 

 and making a little squeaking noise as they flew. 

 In the daytime we often looked for bats in old 

 hollow tree trunks and in the rolled leaves of 

 the heliconia, which is a plant that reminds one 

 of a huge canna. The only bats we actually 

 captured, however, were found in the long- 

 deserted, dark guardrooms of old Fort San 

 Lorenzo at the mouth of the Chagres River, where 

 they were seldom disturbed by visitors. 



This day was a very good beginning, and I 

 looked forward happily to many days of watch- 

 ing large animals. But it was well that I was 

 interested in smaller beasts, too. I worked 

 quietly, walked through the jungle as cautiously 

 as the dead leaf carpet would allow, and paused 

 often to stand still or squat on my heels. I sat 

 for hours at a time astride a big limb ninety feet 

 up my spiked tree, but I never again saw many 

 big animals in my zoo. 



The small laboratory was built soon, and, 

 though the workmen went away every night, the 



