IN JAVA. 71 



I 



back at full length dead — "saperti orang " (just like a man), as 

 my boy remarked. A live specimen brought to me by a native, 

 I kept in captivity for a short time, and it became one of tbe 

 most gentle and engaging creatures possible; but when the 

 calling of its free mates reached its prison-house, it used to 

 place its ear close to the bars of its cage and listen with such 

 intense and eager wistfulness that I could not bear to confine 

 it longer, and had it set free on the margin of its old forest 

 home. Strange to say, its former companions, perceiving 

 perhaps the odour of captivity about it, seemed to distrust its 

 respectability, and refused to allow it to mingle with them. I 

 hope that amid the free woods this taint was soon lost, and 

 that it recovered its pristine happiness. The habits of the 

 Wau-wau closely resemble those of the Siamang of Sumatra. 



Large stretches of the forest in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the house were planted in coffee gardens, cultivated not as 

 in Ceylon in the open sun, but under moderate shade chiefly of 

 the Erijthrina indiea, in patches cleared out of the forest some 

 distance isolated from each other so as to jjrevent the spread, 

 if possible, of any outbreak of the coffee disease {Hemileia), and 

 to give each garden a chance of escape. Seen from the heights 

 above, these parterres scarlet with erythrina flowers, had a very 

 brilliant effect on the landscape. In the newer gardens many 

 of the felled trees still lay rotting, and there insects and birds 

 were in abundance ; but Java has been so well collected oyer 

 by excellent entomologists and naturalists for so long a period 

 that few novelties could be expected. Nevertheless, in all 

 departments, species of interest were constantly falling under 



my notice for the first time. 



I used to place a lamp close to my open window, in hope of 

 attracting moths ; but, while very unsuccessful in this respect, 

 I had frequent visits from the smaller sorts of bats, which, on 

 my slamming the window to, were, though safely trapped, not 

 ensnared within the folds of my butterfly net without a deal 

 of clever dodging on their part, and of noisy disturbance of fur- 

 niture on mine. Of these one was a very rare species, CttTops 

 fritMi, and another has been described as new to science by Mr. 

 Oldfield Thomas, under the name of Kerivoula Javana, a form 

 intermediate between the Philippine and New Guinean types. 



For many months after my arrival the earliest hours of the 



