212 RAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Oh. XIII. 



Near' the same spot, in the heat of the day, I saw the 

 little flyiag lizard (Draco volans) aKght upon a tree by the 

 road-side. It flew quickly along, and straight, like a bird, 

 without any butterfly-like fluttering, and suddenly settled 

 upon the bark just as a creeper (Certhia) would do, for 

 which at the first moment I mistook it. Then it ran a 

 little way up the trunk in a spiral direction, and presently 

 stopped to look at me. I approached in order to watch it, 

 when the little creature stood stiU, and twisting its head 

 completely round, regarded me with a stare, while its little 

 conical pouch, which hung flaccid beneath the throat, was 

 from time to time momentarily distended, assuming a semi- 

 crescentic form, pointing forward in a menacing manner, 

 and then falling again. I clapped my hands, and tried to 

 make it fly, that I might observe its movements, but it 

 remained looking at me imperturbably ; and although I 

 threw sticks and stones up, it only ran a little higher up, 

 and then stopped and watched me again. The heat was so 

 intense, that I was fain to go on my way — and none too 

 soon — for I found afterwards, to my cost, that I was at that 

 moment qualifying myself for an attack of fever. I saw 

 the little Draco again in the interior, and afterwards in the 

 neighbourhood of Singapore. 



Every evening, about sunset, on the Sarawak Eiver, the 

 ail! was alive with large bats or flying foxes (Pteropus), 

 called by the natives Kalongs. They began to appear as 

 nearly as possible at the same minute every evening — a few 

 stragglers first, gradually increasing in numbers, until,- in 

 the course of a quarter of an hour or so, they might be 

 seen aU over the sky, flying just out of gunshot range, but 

 all bound in the same direction, viz. from N. E. to S. W. 

 They flew with a heavy, slow, and steady flight, and might 



