38 MamMALIA OF INDIA. 
Hasirat,—All through India, Ceylon, and Burmah. 
DeEscripTion.—Head and nape rufous black; neck and shoulders 
golden yellow (the hair longer) ; back dark brown; chin dark ; rest of 
body beneath fulvous or rusty brown; interfemoral membrane brown- 
ish black.—/erdon. 
SizE.—Length, 12 to 14 inches; extent of wings, 46 to 52 inches. 
These bats roost on trees in vast numbers. I have generally found 
them to prefer tamarinds of large size. Some idea of the extent of these 
colonies may be gathered from observations by McMaster, who 
attempted to calculate the number in a colony. He says: “In five 
minutes a friend and I counted upwards of six hundred as they passed 
over head, ev route to their feeding grounds; supposing their nightly 
exodus to continue for twenty minutes, this would give upwards of two 
thousand in one roosting place, exclusive of those who took a different 
direction.” 
Head of Pteropus medius. 
Tickell’s account of these colonies is most graphic, though Emerson 
Tennent has also given a most interesting and correct account of their 
habits. The former writes :—‘‘ From the arrival of the first comer until 
the sun is high above the horizon, a scene of incessant wrangling and 
contention is enacted among them, as each endeavours to secure a 
higher and better place, or to eject a neighbour from too close vicinage. 
In these struggles the bats hook themselves along the branches, scramb- 
ling about hand over hand with some speed, biting each other severely, 
striking out with the long claw of the thumb, shrieking and cackling 
without intermission. Each new arrival is compelled to fly several times 
round the tree, being threatened from all points, and, when he even- 
tually hooks on, he has to go through a series of combats, and be 
probabty ejected two or three times before he makes good his tenure.’* 
