596 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 





ft 



- I - 



rt be 



o *" 



O 



rt rt 



o "5 ^ 



Q 5- 



f 



f 





No cessation of their activity occurs in win- 

 ter. When the cold weather begins many gather 

 about barns and houses located near woods or 

 old fields, and thus with the field mice take 

 advantage of the garnered food supplies and 



shelter. Others remain in their regular haunts, 

 where they frequently burrow long distances in 

 the snow, making networks of tunnels and 

 traveling long distances just below the surface, 

 leaving little raised ridges like the track of a 

 mole on the ground. Their journeys upon and 

 under the surface of the snow appear to be 

 in search of food, as they burrow clown to old 

 logs and stumps which make good feeding 

 grounds. Their movements are very active, as 

 they go about either at a walk or quick trot. 



These fierce and truculent little hunters are 

 wholly beneficial in their habits and should be 

 encouraged in place of being killed on sight 

 indiscriminatelv, as one of the ordinary mouse 

 tribe. 



THE RED BAT (Nycteris borealis) 



{For illustration, see page 366) 



Bats reach their greatest development in the 

 tropics, where a marvelous variety of these 

 curious mammals exist. To the northward the 

 number of species gradually decreases, until 

 eventually, in northern Canada and Alaska, a 

 single species represents the group. The United 

 States, occupying the middle latitudes, has a 

 considerable number of different kinds. Some 

 of these remain throughout the year, hibernat- 

 ing in caves during the period of cold, when 

 insects are not to be had; others wing their 

 way southward like birds on the approach of 

 winter and return in spring. 



All bats are nocturnal, although individuals 

 of some species occasionally fly about for a 

 time by day and many come out just before or 

 soon after sunset. In this country practically 

 all species arc insectivorous, but in Mexico and 

 the West Indies many are fruit-eaters and a 

 few true vampires or blood-suckers. 



As a rule, bats are clothed in dull colors, but 

 richly tinted coats give a few a more attractive 

 appearance. Of these none has a more strik- 

 ing adornment than that presented by the soft 

 covering of glossy orange-red fur of the red 

 bat. Its large size, about four inches in total 

 length, with a spread of wings amounting to 

 twelve inches, combined with its color, suffices 

 to distinguish it at once from any other north- 

 ern species. 



The range of the red bat extends from the 

 Atlantic coast to the Pacific and from Ontario 

 and Alberta in southern Canada south through- 

 out most of the United States to the Gulf coast 

 and southern California; also beyond our limits 

 to Lower California and Costa Rica. The 

 genus to which this bat belongs ranges more 

 widely in other parts of North America; also 

 to South America and across the eastern Pacific 

 to the Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands. 



The red bat rarely or never seeks shelter in 

 gloomy caves and crevices, but hangs to the 

 small twigs or leaf stems on trees and bushes 

 in the full light of the sun. One observer in 

 Texas on July 4 found four of them hanging 

 in a cluster from a twig on a peach tree, with 

 the sun shining full on them, although the tern- 



