THE LONG-EARED BAT. 123 
“ All this time the poor thing continued hooked on to the basket, and during the first 
day she would take no food, would not be tempted by meat or milk, by a fly or a spider. 
The next morning I saw her cowering in the cotton, and when I attempted to touch her 
she endeavoured to bite my finger, and made the least possible noise you can imagine. I 
then offered her a fly, and in a moment it was swallowed ; a bit of meat shared the same 
fate, and then she folded her wings round her, intimating, as I imagined, that she had had 
enough. All day she never moved, and at dusk, when I again tempted her with food, she 
took it. This continued for some days; she became tamer, and seemed to anticipate 
‘feeding-time. 
“ At last, to my astonishment, I saw a baby-bat covered with light brownish fur, but stall 
looking as young mice look, under the folds of her wing (I do mai know what else to call 
it). Doubtless Nature had taught her that for the sake of this little one she must take 
food. I believe it sucked, for, afterw: ards, when she again suspended herself against the 
side of the basket, the young bat was not in the cotton, and I fancied that it hung from 
the mother while imbibing nutriment. 
“The old bat became furious if I attempted to touch the young one ; her soft hair stood 
up, and she would tremble all over, and utter little, short, sharp sounds. I wanted very 
much to see if the baby—like Chloe’s puppies—was blind, but she would not allow an 
investigation. Certainly before a fortnight had passed, I saw its eyes, like little bright 
beads in the candle leht. 
“My bat and her baby excited great curiosity, and she was too frequently disturbed ; 
the young one lived for about a month, when, to my great grief, I found it dead in the 
cotton, the parent hanging, as usual, from the side of the basket. T am sorry to add, 
that the wee bat had what “might have been a bruise, but which looked very much like a 
bite, at the back of the neck. 
“The old bat became as tame as a mouse, would hang itself to any convenient portion 
of my dress, and devour whatever I gave it of animal food, and lick milk off my finger. 
It knew me well, would fly round my room in the evening, and go out at the w indow 
hawking for insects, and return in a couple of hours and hang to the window-sill, or to 
the sash, until admitted. At night, it would sometimes fasten in my hair, but never went 
near my mother or the servants. It did not seem to experience any inconvenience from 
the loss of its foot, and continued a great favourite for more than two years. I suppose 
the heat of my room prevented its becoming torpid in winter, though certainly it never 
prowled about as it used to do in spring and | summer; I do not think it ate in winter, but 
of this I cannot be certain. It disappeared altogether at last, falling a prey, I believe, to 
some white owls, who held time-honoured possession of an old belfry. I was very sorry 
for my bat, and should be glad to cultivate the intellect and affections of another, if I had 
the opportunity.” 
In the valuable work on “ British Quadrupeds,” by My. Bell, there is an account of a 
nursling bat, which presents many points of similarity with the foregoing description. 
England possesses many species of these curious flying mammalia, nineteen of which 
are mentioned in “ Bell’s British Quadrupeds.” Of these, the last which will be described 
in this work is nearly the largest of the British Cheiroptera, being only exceeded by the 
Large-eared Bat (Myotis murinus). 
In length of head and body it is almost three inches, and the spread of its wings, from 
thirteen to fourteen inches. The tail is about an inch and three-quarters long, and is 
capable of considerable movement. The colour of the fur is a reddish brown, nearly 
uniform in tint over the whole body, and its texture is very soft. The ears are rather 
large, and the tragus is short, narrow at its root, and then expanding into a rounded 
head. 
On account of the great height at which this bat loves to fly, it has been named 
“altivolans,” or “high-flying,” and seems to be among bats what the swift is among the 
swallow tribe. 
It is curious, by the way, to mark the analogy that exists between the swallows and 
bats. Each of these groups loves the air, and is mostly seen on the wing. Their food 
consists of the flying insects, which they chase by their exquisite command of wing ; and 
