320 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



Pli ■toyraph by American Museum of Natural History 



A TROPICAL LEAF-NOSED BAT 



A mounted specimen showing breadth of wings and smallness of body. A beautiful animal in flight, its 



brilliant color vying with that of the birds 



One of the most beautiful of creatures, vying 

 in brilliance with the birds themselves, is the 

 Red Bat of our Eastern and Southern States. 

 Its name indicates its distinguishing color, a 

 bright reddish brown, paling to yellow. .Another 

 mark is its broad, rounded, hair-tipped ears. 



Air. Seton gives this Bat the additional name 

 of " Tree Bat," and says : " The Red Bat is, 

 above all its kin in our country, a tree Bat. In 

 winter it is known to gather in vast numbers in 

 the caves of its more southerly range. As far 

 as these facts go, they point to a migration from 

 the northern part of its range and a hibernation 

 in the southern jjart." Mr. Witnier Stone adds : 

 " Where dark caves are to be found, these Bats 

 congregate there in immense ntimbers during the 

 daytime, but in most localities thev freriuent lofts 

 and garrets which offer them suUable shelter." 



The Red Hat is the first to make its appear- 

 ance in the evenings, even while it is still light, 

 and it often enters houses while hunting its insect 

 prey. In the daytime it may be seen in a variety 

 of places — lofts and garrets, chimneys, and 

 behind shutters. Near JMillerton, New York, an 

 observer noticed eight Red Bats that hung up 

 for the day behind the shutters to one of the 

 windows of his bedroom. They did this during 

 the greater part of a fortnight. 



Red Bats are great devourers of insects ; and 

 it cannot be doubted that amon<T the latter there 



nuist be consiuned a large nimiber of disease- 

 carriers. Recognizing this fact, the city of San 

 Antonio, Texas, protects Bats by law. Dr. C. 

 A. Campbell, a resident, believes " that the Bat 

 properly protected and developed, in vast num- 

 bers, will practically rid the world of malaria." 

 Being of this same opinion, the San Antonio 

 municipal authorities have caused to be erected 

 in that city the first Bat-roost, which is depicted 

 in the Houston Chronicle of March 17, 1915. 

 It is a tower-like structure, with openings to 

 admit the Bats, and bears the sign " Municipal 

 Bat-roost." 



Nothing is known of the mating habits of the 

 Red Bat, but it is probable that the breeding sea- 

 son is October, a;- very young Bats have been 

 found in May and early June. The tisual ntim- 

 ber of young is probably four. On June 18, 

 1902. an adult female Red Bat was brought alive 

 into the National Museum at \^'ashington, D. C, 

 with a young one at each of her nipples, where 

 it held on with great tenacity, having in its mouth 

 a good deal of its mother's hair, into which its 

 hooked milk teeth firmly caught. Three of the 

 young Rats were females and one was a male, 

 and the combined weight of the fotir was 12.7 

 grammes, the mother's weight being but 1 1 

 grammes. How she was able to sustain such a 

 weight in her nightlv flights is one of the secrets 

 of Bat life. 



