148 THE INDIAN FAUNA 



a length of about 9 inches, varies much in coloration, but is generally reddish 

 brown on the head, and lighter on the shoulders and the hind part of the neck ; 

 the back behind the shoulders is brown or black, the lower-parts are yellowish 

 brown, and the chin, the front of the neck, the sides, and hind-quarters are 

 generally darker, and the breast sometimes dark brown or black. This bat roosts 

 on trees, suspended by its hind-legs, head-downwards during the day. It generally 

 selects the tamarind tree, but sometimes the bamboo, and when wrapped up in its 

 wings looks like a large dry leaf. It is generally found in large numbers on one 

 tree, and if not driven away always chooses the same group of trees for its abode. 

 Towards sunset it begins to grow restless, and climbs about in the branches, and 

 by and by starts on its nocturnal excursion, singly or in pairs. With the exception 

 of oranges, it feeds on all kinds of fruit, especially figs. At early dawn these bats 

 return to their resting-places, where, from the arrival of the first few until the sun 

 stands high in the sky, there are continuous quarrels about the best places, most of 

 them trying to get higher up the tree, and to drive away their neighbours from too 

 close a vicinity. In this endeavour they climb up the branches, biting one another 

 fiercely as they pass, striking each other with the long claws of their thumbs, and 

 screaming and screeching unceasingly. Each newcomer is driven back on all sides 

 and obliged to fly several times round the tree, and when it has gained a bough on 

 which to hang, has again to fight, and is perhaps chased away two or three times 

 before being able to maintain its place. About 10 o'clock they begin to grow drowsy 

 as they hang side by side on a branch, fanning themselves with their wings, or wrap- 

 ping their wings round their heads, until evening wakes them again. When 

 eating they hang by one foot, and hold the fruit with the other, not by clasping it 

 with their toes, but by thrusting their claws into it. The Indian fox-bat, like most 

 other bats, has only one young at a time, which is born at the end of March, or in 

 April, and is carried about by its mother until the end of May or beginning of 

 June, when it is almost full-grown. 



The short-nosed fruit-bat (Cynopterws sphinx), which is endowed with an 

 appetite uncommon even in this voracious family, ranges throughout India from 

 the Himalaya to Ceylon, and eastwards to Burma, the Malay Peninsula and 

 Archipelago, and the Philippines. In colour it is light or dark brown, and its length 

 is 4^ inches. Dwelling in forests, it rests during the day suspended either on 

 palms and other trees or in caves and hollow trees, and feeds exclusively on fruit. 

 This fruit-bat has a particularly light and buoyant flight, whereby it is distin- 

 guished from the fox-bats, which fly heavily and in a straight line, although in 

 general behaviour and habits both have much in common. 



Amoncj the monkeys of India, one of the most familiar, in all 

 Indian Langur. . 



senses of the word, is the langur or hanuman (Semnopithecus entellus), 



in which the hair on the head radiates in a circle from one central point and 



overhangs the black face like a penthouse. The hair of the body is rather woolly, 



and in colour mainly greyish brown, although the naked portions of the face, ears, 



hands, and feet are black. The males measure from 25 to 30 inches in length, 



exclusive of the tail, which is a quarter as long again as the body, but the females 



are much smaller. The range of this species extends from the Dekkan to the south 



bank of the Ganges and the outer ranges of the Himalaya, and on the west includes 



