Music of the Wild 



When I had studied her all I desired and photo- 

 grai)hed the family, she was replaced where she 

 had heen foinid. 



She appealed to me as a happy mother busy 

 with affairs of momentous importance, for she 

 was raising triplets instead of the usual twins of 

 bat-land. A human touch that struck straight to 

 my heart often occurred when the young finished 

 nursing and cre])t over her body. They dug into 

 her skin until she squealed such a sibilant, faint 

 sound that it would have required multiplication 

 by a million to raise one healthy note in the great 

 chorus of the forest. I was reminded of a mother 

 crying out A\'hen her baby hurts her. It would be 

 well for every one to become sufficiently familiar 

 M'ith bats to handle them, and find out ^^'hat they 

 are doing, and why, and what their relation is 

 to us. 



Having learned tliese things, people will be- 

 come more in harmony with the scheme of crea- 

 tion. They will respect the motherhood of this 

 small winged animal, and recognize that in sifting 

 the niglit air for noxious insects, as do swallows 

 and martins liy day, it is fulfilling a purpose in the 

 plan of creation and being of inestimable value to 

 us. If tlie pests exterminated by the flycatchers, 

 swallows, martins, night hawks, and liats Avere al- 

 lowed to midtiply one season witliout being mo- 

 lested, humanity then would be ready to raise a 



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