File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17975325599).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo17amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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BATS OF THE BELGIAN CONGO 567 l>l;iy ifi lliL' ()r(i;ni^uti(iii of cri-tain fruit-hearing trees. It may even sur- pass any similar agencies of monkeys and birds, which usually receive all the credit in this line. Eidolmi lid rum. with its flocks of thousands di'oppiiig into a country in search of i-jpc fruit, should certainly l)e an effective factor for the dissemination of many forms, such as wild figs. Besides omnivorous man. their only enemy is a rather rare bat hawk (Mn- cJin'rlidniphus) that perches on high trees, but at dusk spends most of its time skimming over rivers and shoot- ing about clearings or over the bush country in pursuit of its habitual prey, the bats.i Among the new forms, the most sur- prising were a number of crested bats (Lophomops) that evidently have no close relation to any known species. The papyrus swamps also gave up a curious l)at that hangs just beneath the l)ushy crown of this stately sedge. Others were taken in hollow trees and some even in houses, clinging to the thatch. We were especially successful in the northeastern part of the Congo- Xile divide, which is not to be pictured as an abrupt mountain chain. Quite the contrary, it is only a rolling bush country. al)out twenty-eight hundred feet above sea level, studded with great numbers of rugged granite hills, rising from three hundred to five hundred feet higher. ' It was the good luck of Mr. Chapin to kill one of these hawks whose crop contained four species of bats, three of which were new to science. Just as these hills are inhabited by a number of birds not found in the more level country, so too they have certain peculiar mammals, notatjly hy- raxes, and their fissures and grottoes harbor, as one might well guess, num- Ijers of bats. About two hundred and thirty miles from the coast we found a cavern.—a real sanctuary for ))ats. Fairy tales have made it the lair of a weird leopard which leaves no traces of its victims. The ever recurrent rumors of plaintive voices heard within the cave keep most of the natives at a re- spectful distance. We had with us two of our old trusted boys,Wawe and Choma-Choma, and proceeded but slowly inside so as to make sure of our way out. As we were without firearms, we wondered how we could get the bats; but as the manifold echoes of our voices broke the mystic silence, the cave suddenly be- came alive. To the great terror of our boys, the "devils" came down upon us. Although the volume of whirring noises was enormous, only a few of the bats encircled our lanterns, like timid scouts who alone dared to inquire into the cause of the unusual disturbance. After catching some with a few lucky strokes of a butterfly net. we were glad to come back again to daylight. Our guides. Idack messengers of bad omen, cheered up. and we ourselves laughed heartily as we explained to them that according to the white man's supersti- tion we had had bad luck, for we had caught thirteen bats.
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