40 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



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 refuse raw flesh when offered ; so that the notion, that 



PlPlSTKELLE. 



bats go down chimneys and gnaw men's bacon, seems no im- 

 probable story. While I amused myself with this wonderful 

 quadruped, I saw it several times confute the vulgar opinion, that 

 bats when down upon a flat surface cannot get on the wing again, 

 by rising with great ease from the floor. It ran, I observed, with 

 more dispatch 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 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. I am,, etc. 



