HUNTING ALONG THE UPPER PARAGUAY 209 



occupants conduct dairy-farms, and the cows cany bells 

 tied to the tips of their horns. 



Uruciim proved to be a garden spot of clear, cold springs, 

 shady groves, and plantations of tropical fruits and vege- 

 tables. In the centre of all stood comfortable cottages 

 with large, well-ventilated rooms and delightful shower- 

 baths. Fields and forested hillsides, marshes, and lagoons 

 were easy of access; in them dwelt an abundant and varied 

 fauna. A grove of magnificent mango-trees grew near the 

 house that had been assigned for our use; hundreds of bats 

 came to the trees each morning just as dawn was breaking, 

 to seek their diurnal sleeping-quarters among the dense 

 foliage. They arrived in unbroken streams and spent a 

 great deal of time whirring through the branches, squeaking 

 and making queer little noises that sounded as if they were 

 grating their teeth. Then they finally settled in clusters 

 of from six to a dozen individuals in some particularly thick 

 clump of leaves and, suspended by the claws of their hind 

 feet, began their daytime slumbers. On windy or rainy 

 days they lost little time in becoming settled, and did not 

 seek the swaying branches, but clung to the tree-trunks 

 or on the under-side of the thick limbs. This species of bat 

 (Vampyrops lincatus) has a leaf-shaped appendage on top 

 of the nose which may be of some use to the animal, but is 

 probably of little consequence. This "leaf," the nose and 

 face, including the tips of the ears, were tinged with delicate 

 green. As the bats hung head downward, the green-tinted 

 extremity naturally pointed toward the earth; but if the 

 color was intended as a protection it was of little or no avail, 

 as it could not be seen unless the animal was examined at 

 close range. Other individuals of the same species were 

 collected in a dark cave in the near-by mountains. They, 

 however, showed only a very faint or no trace at all of the 

 green coloring on the face. I am convinced that this color 

 is not a vegetable stain, but that the pigment exists in the 

 skin; it fades soon after death. 



A footpath leading through the forest a distance of sev- 



