I2 Q ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



net-work of nerves may possibly be the supposed sixth 

 sense of the artful dodger. 



In summer the cheiropters of the temperate zone pass 

 the day in hollow trees, under the eaves of old roofs, 

 and even in the interior of open buildings ; the landlord 

 of the Salzburg Acropolis has a large " bat-rookery," 

 not in the old burg, but in the loft of an adjoining 

 frame house, whose basement is used for a tenpin-alley, 

 while the loft itself is occasionally smoked out, to treat 

 visitors to an Acherontic spectacle, — a surging cloud 

 of flopping and squeaking imps of darkness. 



Bats can be domesticated, but never tamed ; in day- 

 time, especially, their sharp teeth are always apt to 

 fasten in the hand that feeds them. Children of Chaos, 

 they love darkness and solitude, and their independence 

 is a practical satire on the arrogance of the self-styled 

 autocrat of the animal kingdom : their whole appear- 

 ance proclaims the alter ens, — creatures that have no 

 part with us and ours. The natt-backa — " night-bird" 

 — has never been a favorite of folk-lore : the myth of 

 the Edda makes it a messenger of Hel, the goddess of 

 darkness and death ; and in Oldenburg its sudden ap- 

 pearance in daytime is still considered a fatal omen : 



Nat-bor am Morgen 



Bringt Ungluck und Sorgen ; 



4 



and the Frisian flederdyn (Yorkshire " flittermouse") 

 is a synonyme for a wraith or a night-hag. The bat- 



