174 



TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



I could still see them flashing by over my head when I 

 went to sleep. As long as it remained light I found it 

 impossible to catch any with my butterfly net, but after 

 dark it was only necessary to wave the net in the air to 

 secure as many as I wanted. Nevertheless, they must 

 undoubtedly possess wonderful powers of sight to fly 

 about in the dark in the deepest recesses of their caves 

 and to return to their nests, often built in places where 

 no light ever penetrates. 



Shortly before sundown a pair of kites made their 

 appearance, and, taking their station over the bat chasm, 

 would every now and then sweep down into the thick of 

 the bats, generally securing a victim every time. I shot 

 both these marauders, which proved to be Haliastur 

 Indus, a very beautiful but common bird. There were 

 also several specimens of a hawk, working away on the 

 bats in a very business-like manner, and woe betide the 

 unfortunate bat singled out from its flock and put in 

 chase ! The way these hawks took the bats one after 

 the other was astonishing, and strongly reminded me of 

 a man eating oysters. I shot several of these hawks, but 

 only secured one, the others being lost over the side of 

 the cliff. It proved to be the rare Machirhamphus 

 alcinus, remarkable for the size of its gape and its small 

 beak, both of which very much resemble those of the 

 swifts. Its habits in taking its prey are also similar, the 

 swift catching and swallowing its food while on the wing 

 in the same way as this hawk does. 



Arising before daylight, I witnessed a reversal of the 

 proceedings of the previous night, the swifts now going 

 out of Simud Putih and the bats going into Simud Itam. 

 The latter literally " rained " into their chasm for two 

 hours after daylight. On looking up, the air seemed 

 filled with small specks, which flashed down perpendicu- 

 larly with great rapidity and disappeared in the dark- 

 ness below I secured many specimens of the bat, 



and found them to be all of one species. The wings are 

 very long and narrow, and it is a very swift flyer. I 

 noticed a few specimens of a swallow and also some very 

 large bats at the mouth of the cave. These large bats 

 were, of course, some kind of flying foxes. 



