long distances in search of food,
but I was not aware of the power they had for sustained flight till
the year 1869, when, on my way to England on furlough, I discovered
a large flying fox winging his way towards our vessel, which was at
that time more than two hundred miles from land. Exhausted, it clung
on to the fore-yard arm; and a present of a rupee induced a Lascar
to go aloft and seize it, which he did after several attempts. The
voracity with which it attacked some plantains showed that it had
been for some time deprived of food, probably having been blown off
shore by high winds. Hanging head-downwards from its cage, it stuffed
the fruit into its cheeks, monkey-fashion, and then seemed to chew
it at leisure. When I left the steamer at Suez it remained in the
captain's possession, and seemed to be tame and reconciled to its
imprisonment, tempered by a surfeit of plantains. In flying over
water they frequently dip down to touch the surface. Jerdon was in
doubt whether they did this to drink or not, but McMaster feels sure
that they do this in order to drink, and that the habit is not peculiar
to the _Pteropodidae_, as he has noticed other bats doing the same.
Colonel Sykes states that he "can personally testify that their flesh
is delicate and without disagreeable flavour;" and another colonel
of my acquaintance once regaled his friends on some flying fox
cutlets, which were pronounced "not bad." Dr. Day accuses these bats
of intemperate habits; drinking the toddy from the earthen pots on
the cocoanut trees, and flying home intoxicated. The wild almond is
a favourite fruit.

Mr. Rainey, who has been a careful observer of animals for years,
states that in Bengal these bats prefer clumps of bamboos for a
resting place, and feed much on the fruit of the betel-nut palm when
ripe. Another naturalist, Mr. G. Vidal, writes that in Southern India
the _P. medius_ feeds chiefly on the green drupe or nut of the
Alexandrian laurel (_Calophyllum inophyllum_), the kernels of which
contain a strong-smelling green oil on which the bats fatten
amazingly; and then they in turn yield, when boiled down, an oil which
is recommended as an excellent stimulative application for the hair.
I noticed in Seonee a curious superstition to the effect that a bone
of this bat tied on to the ankle by a cord of black cowhair is a
sovereign remedy, according to the natives, for rheumatism in the
leg. Tickell states that these bats produce one at