THE BAT. 26'J 



ImperlVrt appearance Management of the young. 



is rather darker. Its wings are, in fact, only 

 membraneous webs, resembling thin leather, and 

 extending from the fore feet to the tail. The 

 eyes are remarkably small, and the ears exactly 

 like those of a mouse. It has been justly ob- 

 served, that the bat has at all times the appear- 

 ance of an imperfect animal; for in walking its 

 feet seem entangled by its wings, and it drags its 

 body on the ground with great awkwardness; 

 and its motions in the air are laboured and ill- 

 directed; whence it has received the significant 

 appellation of the Flitter-mouse. 



The female produces two young at a time, 

 which she suckles, and sometimes carries at her 

 breast in her aerial excursions. Linnseus ob- 

 serves, that she makes no nest, as most animals 

 do, previously to the time of parturition. On 

 the contrary, she contents herself with the first 

 hole she finds; where, sticking herself by her 

 hooked claws against the sides of her apartment, 

 she permits her offspring to hang at the nipple 

 during the first or second day. At length when 

 she finds it necessary to go out in quest of food, 

 she takes her little ones off, and sticks them to the 

 wall, in the manner she had previously suspended 

 herself: where they patiently remain till her re- 

 turn. The young ones, are at first, destitute of 

 down, and of a black colour. 



Bats are nocturnal animals; sleeping during 

 'the day, and commencing their flight in the dusk 

 of evening. They frequent the sides of woods 



