THE NASEBERRY BAT. 
269 
Around this tree I watched night after night in 
the fading twilight, in the desire of obtaining one 
of the Bats that I could see around it ; hut owing to 
the rapidity of their movements, and the imperfect 
light, it was not until I had fruitlessly expended 
much powder and shot, that I succeeded in procuring 
a specimen, which I found to be a little Yampyre, 
and specifically identical with the individual captured 
at the Vineyard. I thus obtained, however, some 
interesting acquaintance with the manners of the 
frugivorous Bats. 
About a quarter of an hour after the sun has 
disappeared, and while the western horizon is yet 
glowing with those effulgent peak-like clouds, which 
only a tropical sunset displays — we discover by 
attentively watching the tree the Bats begin to visit 
it. First one comes, takes a rapid flight around the 
tree, darts once or twice through the dense foliage, 
and winging away is lost in the light of the sky. 
Another and another comes immediately, and performs 
the same evolutions ; and as the glory of the west 
fades away to a warm ruddy brown, like the blush of 
a mulatto girl, many dusky forms are discerned flit- 
ting round and round. By carefully following the 
flight of an individual with the eye, we perceive that 
now and then he alights for a moment on some 
object at the extremity of a bunch of leaves; but 
no sooner has the eye rested on the spot than the 
sooty wings are again spread, and he is pursuing his 
giddy course with his fellows. The object of his 
attention is a ripe naseberry, nestled in the midst 
of that rosette of leaves. Occasionally the weight 
