THE HOARY BAT AND RED BAT 283 



instantly recovered animation and activity, and flew into the dark passages of the 

 cavern. As the cave was, for the most part, not more than six or seven feet in 

 height, they could very easily be removed from the places to which they were sus- 

 pended, and some of the party who were behind me disturbed some hundreds of 

 them at once, when they swept by me in swarms to more remote, darker and safer 

 places of retreat. In flying through the caves they made little or no noise ; some- 

 times upon being disturbed in one place they flew but a few yards and then 

 instantly settled in another. These bats, in hibernating, suspend themselves by the 

 hinder claws from the roof or upper part of the cave ; in no instance did I observe 

 one along the sides. They were not promiscuously scattered, but were collected 

 into groups or clusters of some hundreds, all in close contact. On holding a candle 

 within a few inches of one of these groups, they were not in the least troubled by 

 it ; their eyes continued closed, and I could perceive no signs of respiration." 



As an instance of the weight of the young which female bats have sometimes 

 to carry with them, we may refer to an account by Mr. W. H. Hudson, who states 

 that in La Plata he once captured a female bat, which, although mentioned by an- 

 other name, appears to have belonged to a variety of this species. This bat had 

 attached to her breast two young ones, which were so large that it seemed incredible 

 how she could fly when thus burdened, much less with sufficient speed to catch her 

 insect food. Mr. Hudson states that these young ones were fastened on each side 

 of the body of the parent ; and when forcibly separated from their hold were 

 incapable of flight, and fluttered feebly to the ground. The weight of the young 

 in this instance was not, indeed, so relatively great as in the case of the opossum, 

 where seven or eight young may sometimes be seen clinging to the tail and back of 

 the female ; but then it must be remembered that the opossum has only to climb, 

 when it can use both its claws, teeth, and prehensile tail to aid its movements. 

 The bat, on the other hand, had to seek its living in the empty air, pursuing its 

 prey with the swiftness of a swallow, ' ' and it seemed wonderful to me, ' ' writes Mr. 

 Hudson, " that she should have been able to carry about that great burden with 

 her on one pair of wings, and withal to be active enough to supply herself and her 

 young with food. In the end I released her, and saw her fly away among the trees, 

 after which I put back the two young bats in the place I had taken them from, 

 among thick clustering foliage of a small acacia tree. When set free they began to 

 work their way upwards through the leaves and slender twigs in the most adroit 

 manner, catching a twig with their teeth, then embracing a whole cluster of leaves 

 with their wings, just as a person would take up a quantity of loose clothes and 

 hold them tightly by pressing them against the chest. The body would then 

 emerge above the clasped leaves, and a higher twig would be caught by the teeth, 

 and so on successively, until they had got as high as they wished, when they pro- 

 ceeded to hook themselves to a twig and assume the inverted position side by 

 side ; after which, one drew in its head and went to sleep, while the other began 

 licking the end of its wing, where my finger and thumb had pressed the delicate 

 membrane. Later in the day I attempted to feed them with some small insects, 

 but they rejected my friendly attentions in the most unmistakable manner, snapping 

 viciously at me every time I approached them. In the evening I stationed myself 



