THE BATS. 69 



and podgy, and one slim fellow with wings so long that they 

 have to be folded a dozen times, more or less, before the 

 animal can accommodate them about its person. This last 

 is the one which you sometimes see shooting through the 

 sky at express speed, chattering to itself in a shrill key. It 

 is not to be caught with butterfly-nets or any such gins. 



But after all, what have we to do with these ? Of all the 

 wild-fowl included under the name of bats, the only one 

 that really comes into the foreground of Indian life is the 

 fruit-bat or flying-fox. This animal has what I consider a 

 handsome face, with large soft eyes, and would not be a 

 bat at all but for two characteristic points, a strong batty 

 smell and an insatiable craving for strife. Flying-foxes 

 carry this last trait further than any others of the tribe. 

 Considering that they spend the night filling their stomachs 

 with indigestible green fruits, it is nothing strange that they 

 should be dyspeptic and disagreeable by morning ; the odd 

 thing is that, in order to be within quarrelling distance of 

 each other, they all must needs sleep on one tree, generally 

 a huge tamarind with accommodation for two or three hun- 

 dred. Before a dozen have gathered there is a misunder- 

 standing between two which want the uppermost branch. 

 " That's my place." " I had it yesterday," You hadn't." 



