1 82 MAMMALIA. 



twilight more than the increased darkness of advancing- nio-ht ; and 



<_> o o 



I have killed it even on a cloudy afternoon, while flying to and fro 

 in pursuit of insects, near the border of a hard-wood grove. I have 

 found several of them asleep, in the day-time, hanging by their 

 thumb-nails to small twigs or leaf-stems within easy reach. When 

 thus suspended they are, at a little distance, easily mistaken for 

 dead leaves, or the cocoons of some large moth. 



" In most portions of the United States, the Red Bat is one of 

 the most abundant, characteristic, and familiar species, being rivalled 

 in these respects by the little Brown Bat alone. It would be safe 

 to say that, in any given instance of a bat entering our rooms in 

 the evening, the chances are a hundred to one of its being either 

 one or the other of these two species. The perfect noiselessness 

 and swiftness of its flight, the extraordinary agility with which it 

 evades obstacles even the most dexterous strokes designed for its 

 capture and the unwonted shape, associated in popular superstition 

 with the demons of the shades, conspire to revulsive feelings that 

 need little fancy to render weird and uncanny."* 



As illustrating the devoted attachment of the mother for her 

 young, Dr. Godman quotes the following circumstance from Mr. 

 Titian Peale : " In June, 1823, the son of Mr. Gillespie, keeper of 

 the city square, caught a young red Bat, (Vespertilio Nov-Ebora- 

 ccnsis, L.) which he took home with him. Three hours afterwards, 

 in the evening, as he was conveying it to the Museum in his hand, 

 while passing near the place where it was caught, the mother made 

 her appearance, followed the boy for two squares, flying around 

 him, and finally alighted on his breast, such was her anxiety to save 

 her offspring. Both were brought to the Museum, the young one 

 firmly adhering to its mother's teat. This faithful creature lived 

 two days in the Museum, and then died of injuries received from 



* Drs. Coues and Yarrow in their " Monographic Essay " on North American Chiroptera, pub- 

 lished in chap. II, vol. V, Report upon Explorations and Surveys West of the One Hundredth 

 Meridian, in charge of Lieut. G. M. Wheeler, 1875, p. 89. 



