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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



when I was a boy, and the details have escaped me, but the main facts 

 are as follows : 



One of our common bats (probably either the " little brown bat," 



Vespertllio snbulatus, or the " little red bat ") flew into the house one 



evening and was caught under a hat. It squeaked and snapped its 



little jaws so viciously that all efibrts toward closer acquaintance were 



postponed until morning. 



When uncovered the next day it seemed as fierce as before, but 

 less active in its movements, probably overpowered by the glare of 

 daylight. When touched its jaws opened wide, the sharp teeth were 



Fig. 1. Common English Bat {VespertUio communis). 



exposed, and from its little throat came the sharp steely clicks so char- 

 acteristic of our bats. Nor did this fierce demeanor soften in the 

 least daring the day, and when night approached I was about to 

 let it go, but the sight of a big fly upon the window suggested an 

 attempt to feed the captive. H':ld by the wings between the points 

 of a pair of forceps, the fly had no sooner touched the bat's nose than 

 it was seized, crunched, and swallowed. The rapidity of its disap- 

 pearance accorded with the width to which the eater's jaws were 

 opened to receive it, and, but for the dismal crackling of skin and 

 wings, reminded one of the sudden engulfment of beetles by a hun- 

 gry young robin. 



A second fly went the same road. The third was more deliber- 

 ately masticated, and I ventured to pat the devourer's head. Instantly 

 all was changed. The jaws gaped as if they would separate, the 

 crushed fly dropped from the tongue, and the well-known click pro- 

 claimed a hatred and defiance which hunger could not subdue nor 

 food appease. So at least it seemed, and I think any but a boy-natu- 

 ralist would have yielded to the temptation to fling the spiteful creat- 

 ure out of the window. Perhaps, too, a certain obstinacy made me 

 unwilling to so easily relinquish the newly-formed hope of domesti- 

 cating a bat. At any rate, another fly was presented, and, like the 

 former, dropped the moment my fingers touched the head of the bat. 



