WINTER HOLES 53 



altered, yet, as we shall see if we look at our cap- 

 tive specimen, it has five fingers, as we have, four 

 of which are very long and thin, and the webs, ol 

 which we have a very noticeable trace in our own 

 hands, stretch from finger-tip to finger-tip, and to 

 the body and even down each leg, ending squarely 

 near the ankle, thus giving the creature the absurd 

 appearance of having on a very broad, baggy pair 

 of trousers. 



When thoroughly warmed up, our bat will soon 

 start on a tour of inspection of his cage. He steps 

 rapidly from one wire to another, sometimes hook- 

 ing on with all five toes, but generally with four 

 or three. There seems to be little power in these 

 toes, except of remaining bent in a hooked posi- 

 tion; for when our bat stops and draws up one 

 foot to scratch the head, the claws are merely 

 jerked through the fur by motions of the whole 

 leg, not by individual movements of the separate 

 toes. In this motion we notice, for the first time, 

 that the legs and feet grow in a kind of i ' spread 

 eagle" position, making the knees point backward, 

 in the same direction as the elbows. 



We must stop a moment to admire the beautiful 

 soft fur, a golden brown in colour, with part of 

 the back nearly black. The tiny inverted face is 

 full of expression, the bead-like eyes gleaming 

 brightly from out of their furry bed. The small 

 moist nostrils are constantly wrinkling and snif- 

 fling, and the large size of the alert ears shows 



