Interesting caves exist at Hpagat, twenty-six miles up the Salween,
from Moulmein. They are hollowed out in the base of an isolated
limestone hill about 250 feet high, rising precipitously from the
river. Capt. A. R. S. Anderson, the surgeon-naturalist, gives an
interesting account of these caves in an Indian government report which
is abstracted by "Natural Science." The entrance is about twelve feet
high and is much ornamented by Buddhistic sculptures. As the sun was
setting the party took their stand on the sand-spit facing the entrance
of the caves and soon saw a pair of falcons leave their perch on the
trees and fly to and fro over the river. They were speedily joined by
other birds, including common kites and jungle crows, and the entire
flock, to the number of sixty or a hundred, flew to the entrance of the
caves, close to which they remained wheeling about in mid-air. A few
minutes later the bats began to issue in ones and twos, and were soon
pursued by the birds of prey, but appeared to have no great difficulty
in eluding capture by their rapid and jerky flight, and their pursuers
made no very determined or long-sustained efforts to capture them, but
soon returned to their vigil over the cave. A minute or two passed and
a sudden rush of wings was heard, and the bats were seen to emerge
from the cave in a dense stream which slowly became more and more
packed, and continued of about the same density for some ten minutes
and then gradually thinned away, until, at the end of twenty minutes,
the last had emerged. The stream of bats when at its maximum was ten
feet square, and so dense as to closely resemble smoke pouring from
a chimney in a gale of wind. This resemblance was increased by the
slightly sinuous course pursued by the bats as they flew off into the
afterglow. They were so densely crowded that they frequently upset each
other and fell helplessly into the river below, where they succeeded in
reaching the bank only to fall a prey to the expectant crow. When the
great rush occurred the falcons, kites, and crows entered the stream
of bats and, flying along with it and in it, seized as many bats as
they required for food. Capt. Anderson, by throwing his walking-stick
into the stream of bats, obtained six specimens. During the last twenty
years the bats appear to have considerably diminished in numbers,
owing to the depredations of their bird enemies and to their constant
disturbance by collectors of bat manure.