THE FLYING FOXES. 129 



hang on the branches by hundreds and thousands and millions. By night 

 they fly in bands so large that hours are required for the whole body to 

 pass an observer. 



Their food is fruit, chiefly the various kinds of figs and the mangoes ; 

 but occasionally they have been seen to eat little fishes, which they catch 

 when they leap out of the water. The damage these enormous troops 

 of creatures do is incalculable ; but the natives pursue them less to re- 

 strain their depredations than to obtain a dainty for their kitchens. " At 

 Batchian," Wallace writes, " these ugly creatures are considered a great 

 delicacy and are much sought after. At about the beginning of the year 

 they come in large flocks to eat fruit, and congregate during the day on 

 some small islands in the bay, hanging by thousands on the trees, espe- 

 cially on the dead ones. They can be easily caught or knocked down 

 with sticks, and are brought home by basketfuls. They require to be 

 carefully prepared, as the skin and fur have a rank and powerful foxy 

 odor. They are generally cooked with abundance of spices and condi- 

 ments, and are really very good eating — something like hare." 



The Kalongs are not the redoubtable animals represented by early 

 travelers, who had the privilege of becoming first acquainted with them. 

 These explorers allowed themselves to be imposed upon by their extra- 

 ordinary dimensions, and their descriptions of them are ridiculous exag- 

 gerations. The truth is that the Kalongs never attack any animal, even 

 the feeblest. They may, it is true, in the absence of their ordinary ali- 

 ment, eat insects, but this is a rare exception ; and they are only to be 

 dreaded by man for the injury they do his gardens. Divers artifices are 

 therefore resorted to, to prevent such destruction. For this purpose, in 

 Java the fruit-trees are covered with network or wickerwork made with 

 bamboo slips. 



Another species, the Ptcropus Edzuardsi, is found in India and Mada- 

 gascar. It is much less than the Kalong, and differs from it slightly in 

 color, having on the back a broad stripe of yellowish-gray. It has been 

 often brought to Europe, and Brehm has given an account of the be- 

 havior of a pair of them in captivity. They seemed to live in perfect 

 harmony, and allowed themselves to be handled and stroked by those 

 they knew ; strangers they did not like, even of their own species. 

 The Berlin Thiergarten was the scene of deadly combats between 

 the flying *"oxes ; difference of sex made no difference in the ferocity 

 of the combats, in which one or both usually died from the bites 

 17 



