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Show 1874.] DONATION FROM COL. S. R. TICKELL. 667 crop. It it very fond of this fruit (or, rather, vegetable), and destroys a great quantity. In addition to this it makes the most horrid screeching noise during the greater part of the night. Residents soon get accustomed to this; but when I first came to Samoa the noise appeared to m e peculiarly disagreeable. " A s the bread-fruit trees are chiefly about the villages, during this season the natives kill a good many Bats as an article of food. They are very fond of them, and declare them to be far preferable to fowl. At the present time they often shoot them : but the more common mode of catching them is to fasten a prickly bush on a long bamboo or light pole ; with this they approach the tree on which a Bat is feeding, and by a dexterous movement manage to strike a wing with a thorn of the bush as the animal takes to flight; the wing is thus torn by the thorns and the Bat disabled. In addition to the breadfruit (Artocarpus incisa) the Pteropus feeds on the different species of banana, but chiefly that known as the Chinese (Musa chinensis), the Papaw apple (Carica papaya), the indigenous Hog-plum (Spon-dias dulcis), the Eugenia malaccensis, and the sweet orange. " Judging from m y own trees, it appears to have a great liking for the oranges when they are fine and ripe. The natives of these islands very easily tame this Bat: after keeping it for a little time in captivity they allow it to go at liberty; but it never leaves the house and people it is accustomed to. The natives declare that it keeps the house in which it lives quite free from other Bats, which are afraid of it. "I have been unsuccessful in attempting to tame tbe two specimens now sent to you. One was full-grown when brought to m e by a native. I have had him two or three months ; and he continues as shy and savage as when first brought. The other was procured when very small. A servant of mine shot a female, which fell dead with the uninjured young one at her breast. This we reared; but it continues very shy to the present time." The Secretary called the special attention of the meeting to the valuable donation made to the Society's Library, by Col. S. R. Tickell, of an illustrated M S . work on the ornithology of India, in seven small folio volumes, with 261 plates of birds (illustrating 276 species), descriptions of 448 species, and 5 plates of eggs containing illustrations of those of 42 species. The following were stated to be the contents of the seven volumes:- Vol. I. R A P T O R E S D I U R N I , with 41 plates and descriptions of 60 species. Vol. II. R A P T O R E S N O C T U R N I , with 21 plates and descriptions of 24 species, also 1 plate of eggs containing figures of those of 9 species. Vol. III. Z Y G O D A C T Y L I , with 46 plates and descriptions of 83 species, also 1 plate of eggs containing figures of those of 7 species. Vol. IV. T E N U I R O S T R E S , with 32 plates and descriptions of 56 species, and 1 plate of eggs containing figures of those of 5 species. Vol. V. D E N T I R O S T R E S (part 1), with 38 plates and descriptions 43* |
