x. FLITTERM1CE. 135 



to know her well, devoured any form of animal food, and 

 lapped milk from her finger. She used to allow it to fly 

 out at dusk and hawk for insects ; and it never failed to 

 return at the expiration of a couple of hours or so, hang- 

 ing to the window-sill or the sash until its mistress gave it 

 admission. 



Another observer of bat life, quoted by Professor Burt 

 Wilder, says that having caught a lively long-eared bat, he 

 placed the little fellow in a wire-gauze cage, and inserted 

 a few large flies. The captive was soon attracted by their 

 buzz, and pricking up his ears (just as a donkey does 1 ), he 

 pounced upon his prey. But instead of taking it directly 

 into his mouth, he covered it with his body, and beat it 

 by the aid of his wings into a bag or pocket with which 

 the creature is provided. This bag or pocket is formed by 

 the membrane (called the interfemoral membrane) which 

 stretches between the hind legs and includes the tail. 

 Having thus bagged his prey, he tucked his head under 

 his body, withdrew the poor fly from the pouch, and 

 devoured it at leisure. 



It is possible that insects are secured in this way when 

 the bat is on the wing, for the same writer, although he 

 had no opportunity of observing the action when the 

 creature was in full flight, states that when an insect 

 was caught a few inches from the side of the cage, the 

 method of capture was the same. During flight the 

 interfemoral membrane is not extended to a flat surface 

 (and appears incapable of being so stretched), but always 

 preserves a more or less concave form, highly calculated to 

 serve the purposes of an efficient skim-net, wherewith to 

 capture insects on the wing. The membrane of the 

 pouch would seem, moreover, to be highly sensitive 

 Occasionally, says the same observer, when the bat was 



1 This little uncalled-for-insult is the observer's not mine. 



