50 NATURAL HISTORY 
bat, which would take flies out of a person’s hand. 
If you gave it anything to eat, it brought its wings 
round before the mouth, hovering and hiding its 
head in the manner of birds of prey when they feed. 
The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings 
of the flies, which were always rejected, was worthy 
of observation, and pleased me much. Insects 
seemed to be most acceptable, though it did not re- 
fuse raw flesh when offered ; so that the notion that 
bats go down chimneys and gnaw men’s bacon 
seems no improbable story. While I amused my- 
self with this wonderful quadruped, I saw it several 
times confute the vulgar opinion, that bats, when 
down on a flat surface, cannot get on the wing again, 
by rising with great ease from the floor. It ran, I 
observed, with more despatch than I was aware of, 
but in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner. 
Bats drink on the wing, like swallows, by sipping 
the surface as they play over pools and streams. 
They love to frequent waters, not only for the sake 
of drinking, but on account of the insects, which 
are found over them in the greatest plenty. As I 
was* going some years ago, pretty late, in a boat 
from Richmond to Sunbury, on a warm summer’s 
evening, I think I saw myriads of bats between 
the two places; the air swarmed with them all 
along the Thames, so that hundreds were in sight 
at a time. 
