ANIMALS OF THE FOREST 29 



my companions, however, went out moth-catching 

 at night and omitted to fold up their nets before 

 they started, the consequence being that on their 

 return the nets were full of mosquitoes, and a few 

 weeks later they both suffered from a bad attack 

 of malarial fever. 



In spite of mosquitoes by night and grass-ticks 

 by day, we all agreed that a short stay in the 

 solitude of a Brazilian forest was a most delightful 

 experience. 



The first two nights there was sufficient moon- 

 light to make shooting possible, and I spent a great 

 part of the night in walking about round the camp. 

 Several foxes were seen, and one of these I shot. 

 The island abounds with foxes, and there are also 

 a fair number of wild cats, but although several 

 of the latter were seen, we did not succeed in 

 shooting any. Every night I set a number of 

 traps for small mammals, and, though I managed 

 to get a few specimens, I found there were several 

 difficulties to be overcome. In the first place the 

 bait is almost at once devoured by ants, and this 

 necessitates a constant series of visits to the traps. 

 Then again the traps are continually sprung by 

 animals which are too large for them to hold 

 such as opossums and foxes. Eventually I found 

 that the only way to get any specimens of rats 

 or mice was to set my traps just before nightfall, 

 and then visit them at frequent intervals during the 

 night, and in this way I managed to secure a few. 



