IN JAVA. 



71 



iMick at full lengtli (iQivtl— stiperti orang " (just like a man), as 

 my boy remarked. A live specimen brought to me by a native, 

 I kept in captivity for a short timCj and it became one of the 

 most gentle and engaging creatures possible ; but when the 

 calling of its free mates reached its prison-honse, it used to 

 place its ear close tl> the bars of its cage and listen with snch 

 intense and c?uger wistfulness that I could not bear to confine 

 it longer, and had it set free on the margin of its old forest 

 home. Strange to say, its former companions, perceiving 

 perhaps the odour of captivity about it, seemed to distnist its 

 respectability, and refused to allow it to mingle with them, I 

 hope that amid the free ww)ds this taint was soon lost, and 

 that it recovered it^ pristine happiness. The habits of the 

 Wau-wau closely resemble those of the Sifimang of Sumatra. 



Large stretches of the forest in the immediate neighbonrhood 

 of the house were planted in coffee gardens, cultivated not as 

 in Ceylon in the open snn, but under moderate shade chiefly of 

 the Enjihrina imliea, in patches cleared out of the forest some 

 distance isolated from each other so as to prevent the spread, 

 if possible j of any outbreak of the coffee disease {Hemileiajt and 

 to give each garden a chance of escape. Seen from the heights 

 above, these parterres scarlet with erythrina flowers, had a very 

 brilliaiit effect on the landscape. In the newer gardens many 

 of the felled trees still lay rotting, and there insects and birds 

 were in abundance ; but Java has been so well collected over 

 by excellent entomologists and naturalists for so long a period 

 that few novelties could be expected. Nevertheless, in all 

 dejiartments. species of interest were constantly falling under 

 my notice for the first time. 



I used to place a lamp close to my open window, in hope of 

 attracting moths ; but, while very unsuccessful in this respect, 

 I had fr<Hjuent visits from the smaller sorts of bats, which, on 

 my shuiiuiing the window to, were, though safely trapfjed, not 

 ensnared within the folds of my butterfly net without a deal 

 of clever dodging on their part, and of noisy disturbance of fur- 

 niture on mine. Of these one was a very rare species, Ctdops 

 /n*//j», and another has been described as new to science by Mr. 

 Oldfield Thomas, under the name of Kerivoula javana, a form 

 itifernicdiate between the l*hilippine and New Guinean types. 



For many months after my arrival the earliest hours of the 



