78 



THE WING-HANDED ANIMALS. 



Every kind has its own hunting-grounds in for- 

 ests, orchards, avenues and streets, over stagnant or 

 slowly-flowing water surfaces, etc. It is rare that 

 Bats fly over open fields, for the simple reason that 

 there is no game for them. In the fertile South they 

 also haunt maize and rice fields, for these always 

 harbor a great many insects, which are their lawful 

 prey. Their hunting ground will not usually cover 

 an area greater than a thousand feet ; although some 

 larger species might perhaps go one mile, and the 

 prominent tropical species may fly over much greater 

 distances, as they have been known to travel from 

 one island to another several miles apart. 



The Bats are gregarious, but only under certain 

 conditions. There are species that are hostile to, 

 and occasionally make a meal of each other. Blood- 

 sucking Vampires will attack Long-eared Bats for 

 the purpose of sucking their blood, and the latter 

 will avenge the wrong by eating their assailants. 



THE KALOITG BAT. This picture shows the great Kalong stalking out upon the branch of a tree in 



quest of fruit of which it is so fond, the position being that always assumed by the Slotli. The great " spurs " of the 

 creature are clearly sliown as well as its gentle eye and small ear. The Kalong is gregarious and always moves in 

 great swanns. (Plerofus edulis.) 



The food of Bats consists of fruit, insects, small 

 vertebrata, and blood sucked from larger animals. 

 The Bats of Europe feed only on insects, especially 

 Night-butterflies, Beetles, Flies and Mosquitoes. 

 Their greed is exceptional, the larger ones devour- 

 ing with ease a dozen Beetles, and the smallest 

 ones eating several dozen Flies without having their 

 hunger satisfied. The more active they are, the 

 more food they require, and for this reason are ex- 

 ceedingly useful animals, meriting the favor of Man 

 for ridding the world of so many pests. Of course 

 such is not the case with Blood-sucking Bats, which 

 may do a great deal of harm, nor with Fruit-eating 

 Bats, which sometimes destroy orchards and vine- 

 yards. 



Heuglin observed that African Bats followed 

 herds of Cattle in their search for food. He says : 

 "In the Bogos country there are a great many Cattle^ 

 and the herds will sometimes, in their search for 

 good pasturage and water, remain from home for 

 months. When we arrived at Keeren, all the horned 

 beasts had gone into the valleys of Barka and myr- 

 iads of Flies accompanied them. There were then 

 but few Bats around Keeren, but at the close of the 

 rainy season all the herds belonging to our Bogos. 

 were brought in and in their wake appeared incred- 

 ible numbers of insectivorous Bats. When the last 

 herd departed the Bats also disappeared. One 

 night in the beginning of October we camped out 

 on a plain, three miles from Keei^en, near the fenced- 

 in places destined for Cattle. The animals then be- 

 ing in the mountains, we saw but one or two Bats, 

 but on the following day when the herds had re- 

 turned, the number of Bats toward evening had sur- 

 prisingly increased." 



It seems probable to me that all the Bats under- 

 take larger wanderings than is commonly supposed. 

 Warm Temperature A warm temperature is an 

 Essential to a essential condition to Bats, not 

 Bat's Existence. only because heat gives life to 

 insects, but because the Bats themselves dislike cold 

 weather. The number of Bats in warm climates is 

 due as much to the richer insect life there as to the 



fact that the warmer at- 

 mosphere is conducive to 

 their greater development. 

 Most species stay in their 

 hiding-places when the 

 weather is cold, rainy or 

 windy ;. others do go out 

 on cold evenings, but for 

 a short time only. We 

 must also consider the cir- 

 cumstance that on cold 

 evenings their flying about 

 is to no purpose, as the 

 insects likewise keep in- 

 hiding ; and, besides, wind 

 makes flying very difficult 

 to all but the Narrow- 

 winged Bats. 



On the approach of win- 

 ter all Bats which do nol 

 migrate fall into a mors 

 or less sound sleep. They 

 select for their hiding- 

 place nooks or corners 

 that are protected from the 

 outside cold, as caverns, 

 cellars, warm roofs, prefer- 

 ably places near chimneys,, 

 etc. Here one can find them in clusters, sometimes 

 numbering hundreds, suspended by their hind legs 

 and closely huddled together, in some cases differ- 

 ent species being represented, but only such as are 

 related to each other. It is very rare, indeed, that 

 one finds two species together, which, in their active 

 life, wage open war against each other. The heat of 

 their blood sinks with the outer temperature, some- 

 times as low as four, or even one degree Reaumur, 

 while the usual temperature is twenty-four degrees 

 Reaumur. If the outer air gets so cold that the ani- 

 mals can no longer withstand it, they awake from 

 their lethargy and begin to move about. Frequently 

 they freeze to death, especially in captivity, when 

 exposed to a very low temperature. While the cold 



