134 ~ BOMBAY DUCKS 
a time, wheel round the roosting trees. After a little, 
one of the bats approaches a branch, catches the hook- 
like claws of his hind limbs over it, and allows himself 
to hang. When once a bat has thus taken up a position 
on a bough, he looks upon that particular bough as 
his own especial property, just as a human being ap- 
propriates a compartment of a railway carriage; but 
whereas Homo sapiens only stares angrily at another of 
his species who dares to intrude, Pteropus edwards? not 
only glares at any other bat that makes so bold as to 
venture on to the branch appropriated by him (for bats 
are not blind), but attacks it with teeth and claws, and 
at the same time shrieks, “Why the deuce can’t you 
keep out of this?” or words to that effect. The intruder 
then remarks, in a screech, that had he known the class 
of bat that was accustomed to hang out on that branch 
he would not have defiled himself by hooking on to it! 
Having thus relieved his ruffled feelings he betakes 
himself to another part of the tree. Eventually, all the 
desirable boughs are occupied by flying foxes; but still 
many of the animals are without accommodation, and 
fresh ones continue to arrive. Then the real fun begins. 
Little tiffs, such as that described above, pale into 
insignificance before the squabbles which now take 
place. Each of those thousand odd bats has made up 
its mind to roost in one of those four trees, and each of 
those already hanging on is equally determined to have 
a branch all to itself. Hence the place becomes a verit- 
able pandemonium, and the noise of the fighting and 
squabbling can be heard everywhere within a quarter- 
mile radius. 
