MOLES, SHREWS AND BATS 203 



in winter. At twilight they come squeaking out 

 to hunt in swift zigzag flight for small flying 

 insects, thus destroying hordes of gnats and 

 mosquitoes ; and in the early morning they take 

 another meal before disappearing. In this 

 business their sharp eyesight is aided by an 

 inconceivably delicate sense of touch in their 

 wings and elsewhere. Where caves or rocky 

 crevices abound they often cluster on their 

 walls in great numbers, or elsewhere throng 

 in hollow trees ; but they are quick to resort 

 to buildings, finding their way into barns, gar- 

 rets, broken eaves, belfries and like places, and 

 sometimes becoming a nuisance by their noise 

 and dirt and abominable smell, but otherwise 

 they are harmless. The superstitious fear of 

 them felt by some persons is only a part of 

 the nonsense that has come down to us from the 

 Dark Ages, when all nocturnal animals were 

 supposed to be somehow connected with the so- 

 called "powers of darkness." 



The bats breed annually, usually producing 

 twins in early summer, which are born naked 

 and cling to the mother's body, where they may 

 be suckled wrapped in her wings as she hangs 



