292 COMMON BEASTS OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



sations with Vikram. Although large casuarinas 

 abound in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, they 

 seem never to be chosen as sites for colonies, 

 whereas in Southern India, and especially about 

 the town of Madras, they are very frequently 

 occupied; and certainly nowhere do the clustering 

 bats present a more curious and striking appearance 

 than when hanging among the long slender branches 

 of these trees, swaying about on the feathery shoots 

 that bend under their loads and are stirred by 

 every passing breeze. Two very large colonies 

 inhabit the neighbourhood of Calcutta, one lying 

 to the west of the town on the farther bank of 

 the Hugli, and the other to the south-west in the 

 tract of country between the Diamond Harbour 

 and Budge-Budge roads. At certain times of year 

 it is curious to observe how these two communities 

 have perfectly distinct feeding - grounds, and how 

 completely apart they keep from one another on 

 the way to them. Evening after evening at sun- 

 down two distinct streams of bats may be seen 

 crossing the sky above the town, one travelling 

 almost due eastwards from a point across the 

 river, and the other north-eastwards ; intersecting 

 one another at a certain point in their course, but 

 never showing any tendency to intermingle. The 

 degree to which flying - foxes are conspicuous in 

 particular parts of the town and suburbs at different 

 times of year is determined by the local distribution 



