They sometimes enter houses; the first time I saw one in
my chamber, wheeling heavily round and round, I mistook it for a
pigeon, thinking that a tame one had escaped from the premises of
one of my neighbours. I opened the stomachs of several of these
bats, and found them to contain a mass of pulp and seeds of
fruits, mingled with a few remains of insects. The natives say
they devour ripe cajus and guavas on trees in the gardens, but on
comparing the seeds taken from their stomachs with those of all
cultivated trees at Ega, I found they were unlike any of them; it
is therefore, probable that they generally resort to the forest
to feed, coming to the village in the morning to sleep, because
they find it more secure from animals of prey than their natural
abides in the woods.
Birds.--I have already had occasion to mention several of the
more interesting birds found in the Ega district. The first thing
that would strike a newcomer in the forests of the Upper Amazons
would be the general scarcity of birds; indeed, it often happened
that I did not meet with a single bird during a whole day's
ramble in the richest and most varied parts of the woods.
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