THE BAT. 273 



for her young, as most birds and quadrupeds are known 

 to do. She is barely content with the first hole she meets, 

 where sticking herself by her hooks against the sides of 

 her apartments, she permits her young to hang at the nip- 

 ple, and in this manner to continue for the first or second 

 day. When, after some time, the dam begins to grow 

 hungry, and finding a necessity for stirring abroad, she 

 takes her little ones and sticks them to the wall, in the 

 manner she before hung herself; there they immovably 

 cling, and patiently wait till her return. 



Thus far this animal seems closely allied to the quad- 

 ruped race. Its similitude to that of birds is less striking. 

 As nature has furnished birds with extremely strong pec- 

 toral muscles, to move the wings, and direct their flight, 

 so has it also furnished this animal. As birds also have 

 their legs weak, and unfit for the purposes of motion, the 

 bat has its legs fashioned in the same manner, and is never 

 seen to walk, or, more properly speaking, to push itself 

 forward with its hind legs, but in cases of extreme neces- 

 sity. The toes of the fore legs, or, if we may use the ex- 

 pression, its extremely long fingers, extend the web like a 

 membrane that lies between them ;%nd this, which is ex- 

 tremely thin, serves to lift the little body into the air: in 

 this manner, by an unceasing percussion, much swifter 

 than that of birds, the animal continues, and directs its 

 flight ; however, the great labor required in flying, soon 

 fatigues it; for, unlike' birds, which continue for days to- 

 gether upon the wing, the bat is tired in less than an hour, 

 and then returns to its hole, satisfied with its supply, to 

 enjoy the darkness of its retreat. 



If we consider the bat as seen in our own country, we 

 shall find it a harmless, inoffensive creature. It is true 

 that it now and then steals into a larder, and, like a mouse, 

 commits its petty thefts upon the fattest parts of the bacon. 

 But this happens seldom ; the general tenor of its industry 

 is employed in pursuing insects that, are much more noxious 



