Little Brown Bat 
peevishly as they endeavour to arrange themselves more com- 
fortably for the remainder of their nap. But this activity may be 
due to the increased irritability of the muscular fibre, which is 
said to be an invariable accompaniment of hibernation. When I 
threw open the blind last October, exposing them to the full glare 
of the afternoon sunlight, they maintained the same position and 
showed little sign of awakening, but half an hour later had 
disappeared, though the sun was still several hours high. This 
year the blinds were left open for the first part of the summer, 
and the bats were obliged to look up new sleeping quarters. 
In July I closed the blinds, hoping to entice the bats back to 
their former apartments; and, sure enough, about the first of the 
month I was delighted to see a solitary individual hanging by 
his toes in one corner of the window fast asleep. Wishing to have 
him pose as model for an illustration, | unceremoniously routed him 
out and deposited him on my desk, where he spent a most un- 
happy morning, losing all patience with me before the portrait 
was half completed,—which was hardly to be wondered at, con- 
sidering the circumstances. As often as I tried to get him to 
change his position, he would break forth into shrill stuttering 
protests and snap viciously at everything within reach; but he 
soon quieted down on being left alone, and slept complacently 
close to my hand while I sketched him. Several times he 
escaped and flew deliberately downstairs, which [| think few 
birds would have the intelligence or coolness to do. All those 
that I have seen in similar circumstances fluttered helplessly 
against the glass or ceiling and absolutely refused to fly down- 
ward under any provocation; but my bat flew up or down with 
equal willingness, and from room to room, earnestly searching 
for a passage to the open air. Whenever he felt tired he would 
hang himself up in the fold of a curtain to rest, apparently being 
fast asleep as soon as he was fairly settled. Glass he soon 
learned to avoid as slippery and treacherous; but the mosquito 
screens furnished better foothold, and the way he would scuttle 
about over these was something marvellous. Finally | carried him 
outdoors and gave him his freedom, and, in spite of the sun, 
he seemed to find no difficulty in seeing, but started directly for 
the barn window, which was partly open, and entered it as 
the swallows did. No one seeing him at the time could reason- 
ably have accused him of blindness; nor did the term ‘‘ blind as 
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