Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-09-16

The sky-FOx.
But, after all, the vampire-plague is mere
trihe compared with the Kalong nuisance
there is reason to believe that the myth of the
harpies must have been derived from the
winged gluttons whose countless swarms in
fest the forests of the Eastern Archipelago,
and whose ravages would exceed those of the
Egyptian locust if their habitat were not a re-
gion of inexhRustible fertility. The larger va
rieties are often brought to Holland and an
Amsterdam curiosity-dealer once showed me
a pair of Javanese Roussette- -Kalongs the on
ly absolutely Unsuitable creatures L ever saw,
though have raised young caterpillars and
hawk.owls. Night or day made no difference
to them the moment their box was opened
they thrust out their fox-like heads and pro-
ceeded TO cape with Jaws that seemed TO open
by sections, revealing additional teeth in the
far interior of the skull. Whatever those
jaws could compass went down at one gulp
larger morsels were mangled rather than mas
ticated, and in my presence the he-Kalong
swallowed three pounds of boiled carrots in
less than twenty minutes. Like maggots bats
seem to assimilate only q small portion of
their food, as deglutition and excretion are
divided by very short space Of time, and
their voracity appears to be vague desire to
'fll up" rather than an appetite for any
substances of any kind seemed to come amiss
to our Roussettes potatoes, boiled meat,
butter, bread, and bean-pods were devoured
with equal greed, though not with the same
rapidity as sweet fruits. By way of trying
them, we once offered them spoonful upon
spoonful of hashed beef aud, after gobbling
about twenty ounces apiece, their swallowing
process became somewhat laborious but a
slice Of baked apple at once restored the vigor
Of that function, and they gaped as wide as
ever. About an hour before sunset they be-
gan to get restless, and If the box was left
open the he -Kalong would raise himself above
the rim by means of his wing-hooks and
move his head left and right with an occa-
sionRl grin of his foxy teeth. If supper was
late, his mate would join him before long,
and, after grinning and bearing it for a while,
their impatience generally resulted in q quar-
rel they would hook away at each other and
utter their peculiar cry, a series of shrill
whistles, varied only by prolonging or alb
breviating the pauses. At the sight of a ca
terer they changed their whistle duet into q
sort Of twittering, and stopped it at the first
mouthful, having now found better use for
their snouts but if the visitor came empty
handed they expressed their disappointment
in a curious way, by dropping back into the
box and scratching themselves violently with
their long hind-claws. II that failed to pro-
pitiate the fates they scrambled out and pre-
pared TO take wing it was the hour when
their Asiatic relatives get ready for business.
Near Cape Angel, on the southern coast of
Java, there is a small mountain village,
Rydenberg or Rydenand- Koop, which has
become favorite pleasure-resort of the Dutch
colonists, especially in midwinter, which here
corresponds to the dog-day season of the
Northern hemisphere. In spite of his phlegm,
Mynheer is q keen sportsman and q remarka-
BILE shot, as certain neighbors of his had lately
an opportunity to ascertain, and in the vicin-
ity of Rydenberg large game is pretty well
cleaned out; wild hogs are getting scarce,
and tigers are now only found on Wynkoop's
Bay some forty miles farther west. Monkeys,
however, are still plentiful, and all new COM
ers are treated to the favorite evening sport
of the Javanese Boer,-a "fox-chase in the
| air."
Rydenberg overlooks the sea, and, some
seven miles southeast, an archipelago of low
islands, mostly we'll wooded, but uninhabited
on account of their pestilential swamps.
| From these islands there comes in the eve
ming a stridulous noise, resembling the dis
| tant cries Of a sea-gull swarm but shriller and
wilder, and few minutes befor sunset large
winged creatures rise from the jungle, mount
| ing higher and higher in ever increasing mum
bers, till the example of their leaders gives
/ lle SlGlhl 10 bldTL inc COhbl. Ab lutN up
proach, their bird-like forms assume stranger
proportions zigzag- winged, and with heavy
fops, they pass overhead, or plunge into the
bamboo brake with an impetus that sways
the tall stalks like reeds. Others fly along
| the coast toward the marshes of Wynkoop's
Bay but the plurality direct their course to
| the next fruit-plantations. The natives, how
ever, are ready for them. Every farmer has
from fifty to five hundred square feet of basi
nets of all sizes and forms, roof-and funnel
shaped pieces for the orchards and fiat ones
for the felds,-for the Roussette attacks corn
and melon patches as well as fruit trees.
Judging from the ravenous appetite of the
Amsterdam specimens, / should be inclined
to credit the statement of a Batavian natural
| ist that a dozen Kalongs will strip full-bear
| ing plantation-tree in a single night. G.,
devour from sixty to eighty bananas in about
seven hours. They cling to the fruit clusters
like parrots, skin banana without breaking
it of, and eat Il down to the stalk in less than
five minutes, and at once commences opera
tions on the next one, often taking snap-biteE
| left and right to ascertain the comparative
maturity of the different clusters. Near
Ryenberg, at an elevation of nearly three
thousand feet, some tree-fruits need all the
| sunshine they can get, and the nets are there
fore taken off every morning and replaced
| toward evening, which has the additional ad
vantage of protecting the crop against the
heavy thunder-showers which generally come
down after sunset. II fruit-tree is left un.
covered, the Kalongs find 1t by the same un
erring instinct that guides rats to an accessi
BILE granary, and the sportsman who ambus
cades himself in the top of guava or mango
tree is pretty sure to sight his game before
dark Few other animals are SO hard to kill
and at the same time so easy to cripple as the
Ltlft.fu6 (''sky -fox") as the colonisks call the
large Roussette. The Javanese Kalong at
tains the size of a pug-dog, and in proportion
to his weight his wings are just barely large
enough, so that the least injury to his flying
apparatus is sufficient TO bring him down. Or
terra firma he tries to dodge behind trees and
bushes the best way he can finding escape
impossible, he becomes aggressive, and at
tacks the boots and even the knees of The
pursuer with his sharp teeth. was shown &
thick rattan wslking-stiek that had been bit
ten into splinters by wounded sky-fox.
But to be fooled with nets or Aoored Will
lead is a sad alternative, and in wet years
when wild berries rot away before the end oi
the summer, the Kalong sometimes tries tc
circumvent the retiaries by turning out al
hour sooner than usual, before the natives
have secured their orchards 1t is astound
ing how fast the hue and cry spreads on suet
occasions men, women, and children seem tC
vie in giving the most audible proofs of their
devotion to the public welfare. ''Bhunder
yakl" (''monkey -birds') yells the boy who
was climbing tree and happened TO espy the
harpies in fagrdRti the laborers in the field,
the women at the spring, take up the alarm
and soon a posse of villagers rushes forth
with slings and stones, bent ON revenge, the
chance for prevention of crime being past
the sky-foxes have already settled on the sea
ward orchards and have stripped the bes
trees by this time.
The Kalongs know what is coming, and are
all in a futter, ready to decamp at moments
notice, but still resolved TO make the best OF
the remaining minutes, and eating away with
might and main they hover about the ripe
clusters At the sight of them the villagers
approach with stealthy steps, till suddenly
stones begin to fly, pebbles as big as egg