2(>0 TRAVELS IN THE EAST nmiAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



where tliose l>irds had begun their morning feast by 

 their loudj unceasing screeching and chattering ; and, 

 after stealthily creeping through dense shrubbery for 

 hundreds of yards^ I wonld suddenly behold one of 

 these great trees filled with scores of such brilliantly- 

 plumaged birds, flying about or climbing out to the 

 ends of the branches, and using their ^pinge to aid in 

 poising themselves while they made a dainty break- 

 fast on the rich flowers. These are indeed the birds 

 that Moore describes as — 



" Gay, sparkling looriee, such as gleam "between 

 The crimson flowers of the coral-tree 

 In the warm isles of India's mrmy sea." 



Soon after sunset huge bats always came out, in 

 pairs, and sailed about on their leathery wings, seai'ch- 

 ing for those trees that chanced to be in fruit. Tlie 

 wings of a male that I shot measured four feet and 

 four inches trom tip to tip, and the wings of the female, 

 which accompanied him, expanded four feet eight 

 inches. They are very properly named by the Dutch, 

 " flying foxes," and almost seem to be antediluvian mon- 

 sters, which ought to have disappeared from tbe face of 

 the earth long ago, like the formidable Pterodmtyles, 

 Dtiring the day they hide away in the thick foliage, 

 and one afternoon I found one hanging, avS they de- 

 light to do when they rest or sleep, with its head 

 downward, from the limb of a tree. They are very 

 tenacious of Hfe, and will receive charge after charge 

 of large shot in the bead before they will let go of 

 the limbs with their crooked claws and allow them- 

 selves to fall. They are said to be good for food, but 

 I never saw the natives eat tbem, and certainly had 



