n8 THE VAMPIRE BAT. 



especially when the dark hours of their flight are considered. Even utter darkness 

 seems not to impede these curious animals in their aerial progress, and when shut up 

 in a darkened place, in which strings had been stretched in various directions, the bats 

 still pursued their course through the air, avoiding every obstacle with perfect precis- 

 ion. In order to ascertain beyond doubt whether this faculty were the result of a 

 more than usually keen sight, or whether it were caused by some hitherto unknown 

 structure, Spallanzani deprived a bat of its eyes, and discovered by this most cruel ex- 

 periment, that the bat seemed as capable of directing its flight among the strings with- 

 out its eyes as with them. 



Whether this curious power were resident in any part of the animal's structure, or 

 whether it were the result of a sixth and unknown sense, was long an enigma to naturalists. 

 The difficulty, however, seems to have been solved by the investigations which have been 

 made into the formation of the bat's wing, and it is now universally allowed, that to the 

 exquisite nervous system of its wings the bat is indebted for the above-mentioned faculty. 



The Vampires are said to unite in themselves the progressive power of quadrupeds 

 and birds, and to run on the ground as swiftly as rats, while they fly through the air 

 as easily as any bird. But this accomplishment of running is by no means general 

 among the bats, whose mode of progress is awkward in the extreme, and when the 

 animal is hurried or alarmed, positively ludicrous. 



Bats are in general very much averse to the ground, and never, unless under com- 

 pulsion, place themselves on a level surface. Their mode of walking is grotesque and 

 awkward in the extreme ; and the arduous task of proceeding along the ground is 

 achieved with such difficulty, that it seems almost to be painful to the animal which is 

 condemned for the time to exchange its easy aerial course for the tardy and uncongenial 

 crawl to which its earthly progress islimited. Quadrupedal in its form, although that form 

 may be strangely modified, the bat will occasionally assume quadrupedal action, and 

 walk on the ground by the aid of all its four feet. The method of advancing is as 

 follows : 



The bat thrusts forward one of the fore-legs or " wings," and either hooks the 

 claw at its extremity over any convenient projection, or buries it in the ground. By 

 means of this hold, which it thus gains, the animal draws itself forward, raises its body 

 partly off the earth, and advances the hind leg, making at the same time a kind of 

 tumble forward. The process is then repeated on the opposite side, and thus the 

 creature proceeds in a strange and unearthly fashion, tumbling and staggering along as 

 if its brain were reeling from the effects of disease. It steers a very deviating course, 

 falling first to one side and then to the other, as it employs the limbs of either side. 



None of the bats like to raise themselves into the air from a perfectly level surface, 

 and therefore use all their endeavors to climb up some elevated spot, from whence 

 they may launch themselves into the air. 



They climb with great ease and rapidity, being able to hitch their sharp and curved 

 claws into the least roughness that may present itself, and can thus ascend a perpen- 

 dicular wall with perfect ease and security. In so doing they crawl backwards, raising 

 their bodies against the tree or wall which they desire to scale, and drawing themselves 

 up by the alternate use of the hinder feet. When they have attained a moderate height 

 they are able to fling themselves easily into the air, and to take to immediate flight. 

 They have the power of rising at once from the ground, but always prefer to let them- 

 selves fall from some elevated spot. 



The reason is now evident why the bats take their repose in the singular attitude 

 which has been already mentioned. When suspended by their hind feet, they are in 

 the most favorable position for taking to the air, and when they desire to fly need only 

 to spread their wings, and, loosing their foothold, to launch themselves into the air. 



There may be, and probably are, other reasons for the curious reversed attitude, but 

 that which has already been given accounts in some measure for it. Even among the 

 birds examples are found of a similar mode of repose ; members of the genus Colius, an 

 African group of birds, sleep suspended like the bats, clinging with their feet, and hanging 

 with their heads downwards. But these birds cannot assume this attitude for the pur- 

 pose of taking to flight, as their wings are used as readily as those of most other feathered 



