BATS. 103 



lie down in, no roosts to sit on, then the matter 

 of caring for their young becomes a curious 

 problem. I will try to explain : Two are gen- 

 erally born at a birth ; they are very small, help- 

 less creatures. The mother places them at her 

 breasts, and they cling to her hair with the 

 hinder claws and thumb hooks, and there they 

 remain till they are able to fly. By some natu- 

 ralists it is stated that the male bats assist in 

 carrying the young, but this is very likely a 

 mistake, as they could not feed them. Some 

 tropical bats are almost without hair, but they 

 have pockets or pouches in which the young are 

 carried, as they could not cling to them. The 

 next time one of my readers runs screaming 

 away from one of our harmless little bats let 

 her take a second thought of this tiny fellow- 

 creature, so fearfully and wonderfully made, so 

 richly endowed with motherly feeling, so ten- 

 derly cared for by a Providence that overlooks no 

 living thing, and marks a sparrow's fall or a 

 planet's birth. Much more than I have set 

 down is to be learned of the habits of these 

 animals. 



They are not at all related to mice. Their 

 teeth are near to the moles. For a very long 

 time they have been in the world. Their fossil 

 remains are found in rocks whose origin was 



