142 ANIMAL SKETCHES. CHAP. 



body may fall to 40 Fahr., but slightly above that of the 

 surrounding air. Here then is another point of difference 

 between birds and bats. Birds who feel too acutely our 

 winter climate, or who are pinched by a scarcity of insect 

 food, take wing to more favoured climes. Bats do not 

 migrate, but fall into the winter sleep of hibernation. 



I well remember, now some fifteen years ago, starting 

 at 7 A.M. in the cold crisp air of a January morning to 

 drive in what they were pleased to call the " stage " from 

 Cave City to the famous Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. 

 As an evolutionist I was forced to regard that " stage " as 

 a somewhat degenerate descendant of a bathing-machine 

 that had taken to terrestrial life. The roads were not 

 good ; and I could scarcely have believed, had I not myself 

 undergone the painful experience, that a piece of apparatus 

 so solemn and ponderous could have behaved in a manner 

 so lively. Bruised and bewildered, we reached the Cave 

 Hotel, and after some necessary rest and refreshment fol- 

 lowed a good-humoured mulatto guide to the mouth of the 

 great cavern. A drapery of icicles hung glittering in the 

 bright cold sunshine before the entrance. Through the 

 narrow passage by which we entered the main cave a 

 strong current blew inwards, so that it was difficult to keep 

 our lamps alight. The interior of the cavern safely gained, 

 we looked around us. The walls of the great chamber 

 were festooned with innumerable bats which are wont to 

 hibernate in the comparatively warm and equable climate 

 of the cave. 



Those who may not have visited bats in their winter 

 haunts, but who 'may have visited the monkey-house at 

 the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, will not have 

 failed to observe the large fruit-eating bats hanging 

 pendant, wrapped in the ample folds of their wings, behind 

 their green curtain. It is not difficult to induce one to 



