256 NATURAL HISTORY. 



ear, and are confounded with the cheeks. In others, a- 

 gain, the ears are as long as the body, or else the face 

 is twisted into the form of an horse-shoe, and the nose 

 covered with a kind of crust. Averse, likewise, to 

 the society of all other creatures, they shun the light, 

 inhabit none but dark and gloomy places, to which, 

 after their nocturnal excursions, they are sure to return 

 by break of day, and in which they remain, fixed, as 

 it were, to the walls till the approach of night. 



Their motion in the air may be termed an uncertain 

 flutter, which they seem to execute by struggles, and 

 in an awkward manner. They raise themselves from 

 the ground with difficulty, never soar to a great height, 

 and are but imperfectly qualified to accelerate, or even 

 to direct their flight. This, far from being either ra- 

 pid, or very direct, is performed by hasty vibrations 

 in an oblique and winding direction ; and in passing 

 along they do not fail to seize all the gnats, moths, 

 and other nocturnal insects that come in their way. 

 These they swallow entire ; and in their excrements 

 we meet with the remains of wings and other dry parts, 

 which they have not been able to digest. Like quad- 

 rupeds, the bat brings forth her young alive, and like 

 them it has teeth and nipples. 



These animals do not produce more than two at a 

 birth, which they suckle and even carry along with 

 them as they fly. They unite in numbers to defend 

 each other from the cofd. They pass the winter with- 

 out awaking, without stirring, and without eating, from 

 the end of autumn till spring. Notwithstanding, 

 they can more easily support hunger than cold, and 

 can even subsist a number of days without food, they 

 belong to the number of carnivorous animals ; for they 

 will devour bacon and meat of all kinds. 



