HABITS OF THE FLYING FOX. 



49 



they are aimed against the fruits and other vegetable substances by 

 which animal life is sustained. 



I have often seen the Kalong, as this bat is often called, engaged in 

 eating fruit. It would accept a slice of apple or pear while suspended 

 by its hind-legs. It then bent its head upward, brought its winged arms 

 forward so as to enclose head and fruit together, and then would devour 

 its meal with a series of suapping bites. 



The Kalougs do not seem to care much for dark and retired places 

 of abode, and pass the day— which is their night— suspended from the 



Flying Fox, or Eoussette {Pteropus rubricoUis), 



trunks of large trees, preferring those which belong to the fig genus. 

 On these boughs they hang in vast numbers, and by an inexperienced 

 observer might readily be taken for bunches of large fruits, so closely 

 and quietly do they hang. If disturbed in their repose, they set up a 

 chorus of sharp screams, and flutter about in a state of sad bewilder- 

 ment, their night-loving eyes being dazzled by the hateful glare of the 



sun. 



