MAMMALS OF THE AIR. 79 



leaf-nosed bats, so common in the Himalayas. They lie 

 up during the day, coming out at sundown to catch beetles, 

 flies, and other insects. Many bats lay themselves out 

 more specially to catch one kind of insect ; thus the com- 

 mon yellow bat goes for " white ants," while the pipistrelle 

 feeds chiefly on gnats. To this difference in prey we may 

 attribute the different habits of flight. Some bats move 

 faster than others, some turn exceedingly rapidly, some fly 

 high up in the air, others skim the ground, and a few hunt 

 over the surface of water. During the day all these bats 

 roost in any dark place. Some ancient temples literally 

 swarm with them, and if one enters such a temple during 

 the day the dome is seen to be black with bats, which make 

 a pretence of sleeping. In reality, each one spends the 

 major portion of the day trying to make his neighbour lose 

 his equilibrium. When this happens, the injured neigh- 

 bour makes a great noise and flitters about for a little, and 

 then proceeds to disturb some other bat who is trying to 

 snatch a few moments of sleep, and so the noise continues 

 all day ; but in the evening the bats become silent and 

 issue forth to seek food. Considering the number of insects 

 that are abroad during the day, it seems wonderful that all 

 species of bat are so completely nocturnal. I have often 

 thought what a good time a bat would have if he were bold 

 enough to leave his quarrelsome companions and look for 

 insects during the day. There must be some good reason 

 why no bats have become diurnal, although what this rea- 

 son may be, 1 know not ; it can hardly be the fear of hawks 

 and other birds of prey, for bats are rapid fliers and are 

 surely able to look after themselves as well as birds are. 



Finally, we have to consider fruit-eating bats. Greedy 

 brutes these are. The amount of fruit that one individual 

 can put away is appalling. The bat eats with its head 

 downwards, using its claws as forks, taking in disgustingly 

 large mouthfuls and cramming in so much food at once 

 that the cheeks become quite distended. Writing of the 

 common Indian fruit-bat, popularly known as the " flying 



