52 NATURAL HISTORY 



At present I know only two species of bats, the com- 

 mon Vespertilio murinus 10 and the Vespertilio auritus n . 



I was much entertained last summer with a tame bat, 

 which would take flies out of a person's hand. If you 

 gave it any thing to eat, it brought its wings round 

 before the mouth, hovering and hiding its head in the 

 manner of birds of prey when they feed 12 . The adroit- 

 ness it showed in shearing off the wings of the flies, 

 which were always rejected, was worthy of observation, 

 and pleased me much 13 . Insects seemed to be most 

 acceptable, though it did not refuse raw flesh when 

 offered : so that the notion, that bats go down chimneys 

 and gnaw men's bacon, seems no improbable story. 

 While I amused myself with this wonderful quadruped, 

 I saw it several times confute the vulgar opinion, that 

 bats when down on a flat surface cannot get on the 

 wing again, by rising with great ease from the floor. It 

 ran, I observed, with more dispatch than I was aware 

 of; but in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner 14 . 



10 Probably the pipistrelle bat, Vespertilio Pipistrellus, GMEL. E. T. B. 



II [Plecotus auritus, GEOFF.] 



12 These particulars were published by Pennant, as favoured to him 

 by White, in the Appendix to the second volume of his British Zoology, 

 1768, p. 500. E. T. B. 



13 I have more than once kept bats in confinement, but none of them 

 exhibited any of the dexterity mentioned by Mr. White. On the contrary, 

 they seemed most remarkable for the awkwardness with which they 

 seized and treated the insects offered to them, and required to have 

 them almost put into their mouths before they perceived them. I attri- 

 buted this to its being unnatural for them to catch their prey except on 

 the wing, like the swallows (Hirundinidte) and the night jars. One of 

 them which I kept under an inverted bell-glass, slightly raised at the 

 edge to admit fresh air, contrived to insinuate the hook of its wing so as 

 to raise up the glass and effect its escape. I once saw one fly into a 

 cottage in Wiltshire, either by mistake, or -probably pursued by some 

 owl ; but notwithstanding the delicacy of tact ascribed to the species by 

 Spallanzani, it did not seem capable of discovering the door, and dashed 

 recklessly about till it was caught*. RENNIE. 



14 I am indebted to Mr. Daniell for the following particulars of the 

 habits of two species of British bats, which were kept by him in confine- 



* Might not this have been owing to the alarm or excitement under 

 which the animal was labouring at the time ? E. T. B. 



