BATS OF THE BELGIAN CONGO 



567 



l>l;iy ifi lliL' [)r(i|ni^uti(iii of cri-tain 

 fruit-hearing trees. It may even sur- 

 pass any similar agencies of monkeys 

 and birds, which usually receive all the 

 credit in this line. Eidolmi lid rum. 

 with its flocks of thousands di'oppiiig 

 into a country in search of i-jpc fruit, 

 should certainly l)e an effective factor 

 for the dissemination of many forms, 

 such as wild figs. 



Besides omnivorous man. their only 

 enemy is a rather rare bat hawk (Mn- 

 cJin'rlidniphus) that perches on high 

 trees, but at dusk spends most of its 

 time skimming over rivers and shoot- 

 ing about clearings or over the bush 

 country in pursuit of its habitual prey, 

 the bats.i 



Among the new forms, the most sur- 

 prising were a number of crested bats 

 {Lophomops) that evidently have no 

 close relation to any known species. 

 The papyrus swamps also gave up a 

 curious l)at that hangs just beneath the 

 l)ushy crown of this stately sedge. 

 Others were taken in hollow trees and 

 some even in houses, clinging to the 

 thatch. We were especially successful 

 in the northeastern part of the Congo- 

 Xile divide, which is not to be pictured 

 as an abrupt mountain chain. Quite 

 the contrary, it is only a rolling bush 

 country. al)out twenty-eight hundred 

 feet above sea level, studded with great 

 numbers of rugged granite hills, rising 

 from three hundred to five hundred 

 feet higher. 



' It was the good luck of Mr. Chapin to kill one 

 of these hawks whose crop contained four species 

 of bats, three of which were new to science. 



Just as these hills are inhabited by 

 a number of birds not found in the 

 more level country, so too they have 

 certain peculiar mammals, notatjly hy- 

 raxes, and their fissures and grottoes 

 harbor, as one might well guess, num- 

 Ijers of bats. About two hundred and 

 thirty miles from the coast we found a 

 cavern.— a real sanctuary for })ats. 

 Fairy tales have made it the lair of a 

 weird leopard which leaves no traces of 

 its victims. The ever recurrent rumors 

 of plaintive voices heard within the 

 cave keep most of the natives at a re- 

 spectful distance. 



We had with us two of our old 

 trusted boys, Wa we and Choma-Choma, 

 and proceeded but slowly inside so as 

 to make sure of our way out. As we 

 were without firearms, we wondered 

 how we could get the bats; but as the 

 manifold echoes of our voices broke the 

 mystic silence, the cave suddenly be- 

 came alive. To the great terror of our 

 boys, the "devils" came down upon us. 

 Although the volume of whirring noises 

 was enormous, only a few of the bats 

 encircled our lanterns, like timid 

 scouts who alone dared to inquire into 

 the cause of the unusual disturbance. 

 After catching some with a few lucky 

 strokes of a butterfly net. we were glad 

 to come back again to daylight. Our 

 guides. Idack messengers of bad omen, 

 cheered up. and we ourselves laughed 

 heartily as we explained to them that 

 according to the white man's supersti- 

 tion we had had bad luck, for we had 

 caught thirteen bats. 



