"Donald S." left Messly for our lake at 11 a.m. So we'll probably get back about the end of the month. Swine swam out two antelopes this afternoon (one split escaped during the night). The weather has freshened considerably & this evening is almost chilly. Mon. Sep. 21. Equinox. A clear cool night + no fruit bats flew. We staged a digging exhibition by means of the spiny anteater. She animal just roamed about for a while, occasionally pushing its strong thin slender muzzle like a plowshare straight into the ground. For a long time it would not dig in, & at length I started to cut a little groove in the ground to see if the animal would dig there. Apparently all it needed to start it was the sound of my digging, because it at once started to go down beside an old stump. Baring the ground laterally with its front feet + probing + pushing with its head it started to go down at about this angle: = pound each. We could hear smell roots being snapped as the creature put on pressure with its strong neck muscles. As it dug, the whole surface of its body rippled under its armor of shives with the muscular effort it put forth. Took photos. Tues. Sep. 22. Shot one fruit bat last night. They seem to have deserted the trees almost here. The flowers are now fully open, & I think it likely the bats prefer the opening buds. Anyway I've put about 35 bats out of the Xanthostemon trees so far. Walked out into woods for few miles this morning. Dark brown termites moving free everywhere; one lot comprising thousands of insects came down the trunk of a very large tree, traveled for about 25 yds along sticks, over & under lesser roots and finally went up another even larger tree. About half of the termite were carrying what like a little pellet of chewed-up wood, or perhaps pollen in their jaws. Also saw several pond skates in a tiny puddle about a foot across, & no fish near. Couldn't catch them they h because they flew too free. Found pile of Rand's boys collect films for stuffing birds from the still nests of a Palm damson. Each nest is about 4 feet long + the diameter of a