96 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



day by her hind feet with her head down and with 

 her two babies folded in her winged arms. 



At night she was more lively and would clamber 

 all over the cage; but on this particular occasion 

 she seemed disinclined to move; at length, how- 

 ever, she disengaged her two little babies and care- 

 fully hung them side by side to the wires of the 

 enclosure. 



Previous to this occasion the two babies and the 

 mother had never been separated, so, when I saw 

 what she had done, my curiosity was greatly ex- 

 cited and when the little mother slowly and pain- 

 fully climbed down to the bottom of the cage, let 

 go her hold and rested upon her back, I was sur- 

 prised, for I had never before seen a bat voluntarily 

 assume this position. 



I did not see how she removed the young ones 

 from her breast as the act was unexpected, but I 

 saw her with the babies and the next moment they 

 were hung on the wires and a few hours after- 

 wards when I looked at her again, I was still more 

 surprised to find that she was dead. Was this ac- 

 cidental, or did the poor mother feel that her time 

 had come and prepare for it by tenderly hanging 

 her babies out of harm's way? If an accident it 

 was interesting, if an intelligent act it was pathetic. 



I had now two orphans on my hands and how 

 to feed them was the question. At first I put a 

 rag in a saucer of milk and the other end in a 

 baby's mouth; this seemed to answer the purpose 

 and to be in a measure successful, but the babies 



