9 o DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



represented as a symbol of wisdom, not so the 

 poor bat. Today there is a common slang ex- 

 pression used to indicate a disordered mind, and 

 when a man is said to have 



"BATS IN HIS BELFRY'* 



we know that there is something wrong in that 

 person's head; that bats correspond to disorderly 

 thoughts and the belfry to the head. 



In this manner and by this process bats have 

 become associated in everyone's mind with super- 

 stition, ignorance, darkness, lunacy, and a lot 

 of other disagreeable and uncanny subjects. For 

 all of this the bat itself is not to blame; it is a 

 useful, beautiful and extremely interesting little 

 animal and the only mammal capable of flight. 



THE FLYING SQUIRREL DOES NOT FLY, 



it is simply an animal aeroplane, capable of sail- 

 ing down from a high point to a lower one; but 

 the bat has the same powers of flight as a bird, 

 although when it is on the wing it more truly re- 

 sembles a butterfly in its movements than a bird. 

 Any one who wishes to make a study of bats and 

 their habits may easily do so by 



MAKING AN OBSERVATION BAT HOUSE. 



Take a board the size of a cellar window sash, 

 nail four small blocks about one inch thick to the 

 four corners and nail the window sash to these 



