THE CAROLINA BAT 



159 



it is often to be seen in tlie neighbourhood of ponds or 

 streams in search of its favourite food. Its cry is 

 exceedingly shrill, so much so, that some persons are 

 quite unable to bear it. 



Homer compares the voices of the ghosts to the cries 

 of bats. In the 24th book of the Odyssey, 6, he says : 

 " As when bats in a corner of a quiet cave, when one of 

 them has fallen from ofi' the cluster — so they (the ghosts) 

 went along screaming." 



As Pope gives it : 



" Trembling the spectres glide, and plaintive vent 

 Their hollow screams along the deep descent, 

 As in the cavern of some rifled den, 

 When flock nocturnal bats, and birds obscene ; 

 Clustered they hang, till at some sudden shock 

 They move, and murmurs run through all the rock. 

 So cowering fled the sable host of ghosts." 



Bats bring forth one or two young ones at a birth. 

 They are born naked and blind, and are suckled much 

 as is the human infant. 



Years ago, a Mr, Daniell recorded his observations on 

 this subject with respect to a female noctule bat, which 

 is one of the largest species found in England. She was 

 kept in a cage, wherein one day her owner observed that 

 she was very restless. 



The uneasiness continued for upward of an hour, the 

 animal remaining in her usual attitude, suspended by her 

 hind feet. On a sudden she reversed her position, and 

 attached herself by her anterior limbs to a cross wire of 

 the cage, stretching hei' hind legs to their utmost extent, 

 curving the tail upward and expanding the interfemoral 

 membrane so as to form a perfect nest-like cavity for the 

 reception of the young. Into this receptacle it was 

 born, lying on its back, perfectly destitute of hair, blind, 



