52 The Natural History of Se I borne 



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 refuse 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 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 sum- 

 mer'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, &c. 



Long-eared (sat 



