Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
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Transcription
Puerto del Triunfo, Dept., Usulutan
Dec., 28, 1925 - Jan., 25, 1926
Desmodus
Vampire Bat-
On the morning of January 14, 1926
while running my trapline along
one of the small jungle streams about
one mile east of the village of Puerto
del Triunfo I varied from my
regular path to watch for an
agouti when I located a large
tree which [illegible] hollow at the bottom.
The cavity in this tree was probably
two feet in diameter while the
external opening was perhaps two
and one half feet wide at the ground
with both sides tapering to a point
about four feet above. The trunk
[torn off] approximately four feet in
diameter trended from a slight angle
at a height of about twenty feet to
direct heavenward. The cavity was
damp and the fine pieces of wood [illegible]
and wood dust within were soggy
and sheltered many cockroaches some of
which were as long as my index
finger. When I stooped down by
the opening the familiar squeek of
bats came to my ears and I could
hear them restlessly shifting their
positions. I held my shot pistol in
the cavity and fired twice. One
bat came tumbling down and three
others flew out but soon swung
up under the leaves of the dense
chlot palms where I brought
down one after the other. Three