50 
SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
MOTES. 
1. Grows and Flying Foxes at Barbery n .—In February of 
this year I had the privilege, by kind permission of Captain 
A. Channer, R.N., of spending a few days at the small island 
opposite to Beruwala upon which the Barberyn Lighthouse 
stands, some 35 miles south of Colombo. The island is covered 
by a cocoanut plantation and is uninhabited, except by the 
lighthouse staff and one or two natives working on the plantation. 
I had formerly paid a flying visit to the island, arriving there 
on both occasions in the heat of the day without noticing anything 
out of the common. 
On making a more extended stay at the place on the second 
occasion I heard on the first evening a great commotion of crows 
among the tree tops. On the following morning towards sunrise, 
instead of the intermittent chorus of the crows, I was somewhat 
surprised by the chattering and squabbling of numerous flying 
foxes* overhead. Even then I paid no particular heed to the 
noisy creatures, until the next evening at sundown, when I 
witnessed what was to me a most interesting sight, namely, the 
passage in opposite directions across the strait which divides the 
island from the mainland of immense flocks of crows and flying 
foxes, the former bound for the island to rest for the night, the 
latter speeding their way to the mainland intent upon their 
nocturnal forage. 
The flying foxes flew on the average distinctly higher than the 
crows, starting singly and increasing to large flocks of twenty-five 
and upwards, finally becoming a continuous stream. The crows 
obviously outnumbered the bats, although weight for weight they 
probably represented an equivalent bulk of living matter. The 
crows also began to arrive in small numbers before the vanguard 
of the bats had started, increasing in their turn to large battalions 
until a period of maximum migration was reached, when troops 
of bats were to be seen passing over still larger columns of crows. 
The whole of the cross-migration occupied about half an hour, 
after which solitude reigned supreme. 
It still remained to witness the matutinal flights. Accordingly 
on the next day shortly before sunrise I heard the cawing of 
crows mingled with the chattering of a few flying foxes. This 
* Pteropui viedius , the Indian fruit, bat or flying fox, here called ma-wawula. 
