178 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



crowns, adapted for munching fruit. The eyes are distinctly large, 

 and this is another point which separates the Flying- Foxes, which have 

 good sight, from most other Bats, which have very small eyes, and rely 

 for finding their way and their food more upon their sensitive wings, 

 which can detect the smallest air-current or change of temperature, so 

 that they really feel their way about. 



In colour the Flying-Fox varies considerably, some being much 

 blacker than those depicted, especially on the abdomen. The flight 

 of the Flying-Fox is as different from the Bats one usually sees as 

 is its general appearance ; it travels slowly by steady uninterrupted 

 sweeps of its great wings, like a large bird, from which it is hard to 

 distinguish if seen "end on." When about to alight, it sails and 

 wheels on motionless down-bent wings, and, on pitching in a tree, 

 shows itself fairly active on foot, either walking along the boughs 

 upside down with the thumbs and feet, or even by means of the feet 

 alone, as in the ordinary resting-position represented. When in com- 

 plete repose it hangs, by one foot only, wrapped up in its wings, 

 with the head tucked in on the breast. 



It is a quarrelsome, ill-conditioned brute, biting savagely, and 

 scratching its foe with the great claws of the thumbs ; on such occasions 

 it shrieks and cackles in a way which reminds one of an infuriated 

 Monkey. Its claws come in handy in feeding as well as fighting ; 

 sometimes it holds a fruit between the thumb and the adjacent part 

 of the wing, or it may employ its toe-nails as a fork, bending the 

 leg forward to hold the food against its body, the legs having remark- 

 able freedom of action. The food thus secured, the Bat gluttonously 

 gulps it down in great mouthfuls, for, like so many fruit-eating 

 creatures, it is intensely greedy. This is presumably the result of its 

 comparatively slight digestive power, for the fruit passes through the 

 body of the beast in a very slightly altered condition, a peculiarity 

 also notable in many fruit-eating birds. 



Flying-Foxes begin to fly out for food at twilight, not in flocks, 

 but one after another in a casual way. They probably often traverse 

 great distances, for their flight is very enduring, one having once been 



