BRITISH LAND MAMMALS 

 AND THEIR HABITS 



CHAPTER I 



BRITISH BATS 



The curious formation of Bats and their mode of 

 existence must be taken as an excuse for the super- 

 stitious views held by our forefathers in regard to 

 these mammals. It seems peculiarly strange to see a 

 mouse-like creature, endowed with wings, floating 

 through the summer air and then vanishing without 

 any explanation until the summer insects dance again 

 in the after-glow. 



The body of a Bat is truly mouse-like, but the wings 

 that convey the creature through the air are not so 

 bird-like as might be supposed merely by observing 

 the animal in flight. The fore-limbs are quite an 

 innovation considered as wings. These are drawn out, 

 and what would be the fingers on a forearm are very 

 long and thin. In this transformation the flat portion 

 of the hand has lost its palm, the bones of which, 

 combined with the remainder of the fingers, are turned 



B.L.M. I 



