I learned that they build
and lay four times a year, but I think that they meant that both
the black and the white-nest birds lay twice each. The white kind
build their first nests about March, and the black kind in May, and,
as these nests are all collected before they have time to hatch their
eggs, there are no young birds till later in the year, when the nests
are not disturbed, but the old nests are collected with the new ones
the following year. If the guano could be easily transported to the
coast it would be a paying proposition, but the Government fears that
it might frighten the birds away.
About dusk that evening after we had returned to our hut, I heard a
noise like the whistling of the wind, and, going outside, I saw a truly
wonderful sight, in fact a sight that filled me with amazement. The
millions of small bats which share these caves with the birds were
issuing forth for the night from the small hole I spoke about on the
very top of the rock leading into the large cave, but what a sight it
was! As far as the eye could see they stretched in one even unbroken
column across the sky. They issued from the cave in a compact mass
and preserved the same even formation till they disappeared in the far
distance.
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