NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



Epauletted Fruit Bats have krge, flabby, distensible 

 lips ; there are tufts of white hair at the basis of the 

 ears, and in the case of the males there is the charac- 

 teristic white shoulder patch. The Collared Flying 

 Fox, on the contrary, has no trace of white hair on 

 it, and its lips are not large or flabby. Its fur is 

 brown, which is darker above than on the under- 

 parts. The hair on the neck is longer and coarser 

 than that on the body, and presents the appearance 

 of a collar, and in the mature male it is of a deep 

 yellow colour. The presence of this collar has given 

 rise to the name of the bat. 



The Collared Flying Fox is found in all parts of 

 Africa from the Cape Province to the Mediterranean 

 Ocean. 



As a destroyer of fruit it is as great a pest in South 

 Africa as its cousin the Epauletted Fruit Bat. In 

 my fruit garden in Natal this species of bat caused 

 great damage. It was particularly fond of loquats. 

 Sometimes one or more of these bats would settle 

 in a tree, and finding a bunch of loquats, selected 

 the ripe ones and devoured them on the spot. At 

 other times a loquat would be taken in the mouth 

 and carried to one of the shadiest trees in the quiet- 

 est part of the orchard, and here, hanging upside 

 down from a twig, it leisurely ate the fruit, dropping 

 the pips and skin to the ground. Journeying back 

 and forth a single bat will, during the course of a 

 night, make twoscore or more journeys. 



Sitting concealed under a loquat tree, I kept some 

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