Chap. y. 
BIKDS. 
333 
both kinds ; I used to see them, as I sat at my door 
dmdng the short evening twilights, trooping forth by 
scores from a large open window at the back of the 
altar, twittering cheerfully as they sped off to the 
borders of the forest. They sometimes enter houses ; 
the first time I saw one in my chamber, wheeling 
heavily round and round, I mistook it for a pigeon, 
thinking that a tame one had escaped from the pre- 
mises (3f one of my neighbours. I opened the stomachs 
of several of these bats, and found them to contain a 
mass of pulp and seeds of fruits, mingled with a few 
remains of insects.* The natives say they devour ripe 
cajiis and guavas on trees in the gardens, but on com- 
paring the seeds taken from their stomachs with those 
of all cultivated trees at Ega, I found they were unlike 
any of them ; it is therefore probable that they gene- 
rally resort to the forest to feed, coming to the village 
in the morning to sleep, because they find it more 
secure from animals of prey than their natural abodes 
in the woods. 
Birds. — I have already had occasion to mention several 
of the more interesting birds found in the Ega district. 
The first thing that would strike a new-comer in the 
forests of the Upper Amazons would be the general 
scarcity of birds ; indeed, it often happened that I did 
not meet with a single bird during a whole day's ramble 
in the richest and most varied parts of the woods. Yet 
* The remains of insects belonged to species of Scarites (Coleoptera) 
having blunt maxillary blades, several of which fly abroad in great 
numbers on warm nights. 
