258 PTEROPODID.E. 



about along the branches, and by ones and twos fly off for their 

 nightly rounds. If water is at hand — a tank, a river, or the sea — 

 they fly cautiously down and touch the water, but I could not 

 ascertain if they took a sip, or merely dipped part of their bodies 

 in. They fly A^ast distances occasionally to such trees as happen 

 to be in fruit. They are fond of most garden fruit (except 

 oranges, &c.), also the neem, jamoon, her, and various figs *. 

 About the early dawn they return from their hunting-grounds, 

 and the scene that then takes place is well described by Tickell in 

 an excellent memoir published in the ' C alcutta Journal of Natural 

 History ' t, from which I extract the following : ' From the arrival 

 of the first comer until the sun is high above the horizon, a scene 

 of incessant wrangling and contention is enacted amongst them, 

 as each endeavours to secure a higher and better place, or to eject 

 a neighbour from too close vicinage. In these struggles the bats 

 hook themselves along the branches, scrambling about " hand over 

 hand" with some speed, biting each other severely, striking out 

 with the long claw of the thumb, and shrieking and cackhng 

 without intermission. Each new arrival is compelled to fly several 

 times round the tree, being threatened from all points, and when 

 he eventually hooks on has to go through a series of combats, and 

 be probably ejected two or three times before he makes good his 

 tenui'e. The "alarums-excursions" continue till 8, 9, or 10 a.m., 

 when the bats get sleepy, and hang side by side in peace, fanning 

 themselves with their wings, which in repose they wrap round the 

 head.' " 



According to Dr. Shortt, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 438, these bats 

 capture small fish, but Jerdon suspects, and probably with reason, 

 that the habit of skimming water in the evening has been 

 mistaken for fishing. I have often observed this habit : the head 

 is lowered, the animal pauses in its flight, and the water is just 

 touched, I believe, by the tongue or lower jaw. I have no doubt 

 that some water is drunk, and this is the opinion of both Tickell 

 aud McMaster. The former says that flying-foxes in confinement 

 drink at all hours, lapping with their tongues. The latter has 

 noticed many other bats drink in the evening as well as the flying- 

 foxes. 



The process of eating is also described by Tickell. The bats 

 hang, head downwards as usual, by one foot, and hold the fruit 

 with the other, not by grasping, but by striking the claws in like 

 a fork. The jaws are moved slowly up and down, and the food 



* They are also fond of the fruit of Terminalia catappa, and are said by 

 Day to extract the kernels, often utilizing tiie verandahs of houses as a 

 resort whilst thus engaged, and alarming the inhabitants by sounds sugges- 

 tive of house-breaking. Tlie same writer states tliat these bats often drink 

 toddy (palm-juice) from the pots attached to the trees from which it is collected, 

 aud are consequently found intoxicated and helpless beneath tiie trees in the 

 mt)rning (' Land of the Permauls,' p. 439). 



t Vol. iii. p. 29. 



