WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



to keep bats, so as to find out more about their 

 ways and habits, have experienced the same 

 difficulty in keeping them alive and well. 

 Whether it is a question of not getting the right 

 food, want of exercise, or what, I cannot say, 

 but it is impossible to get a bat to live for long 

 in a cage. So if you should come across a bat, 

 do not shut up the poor little creature, but 

 after finding out all you can about it let it go 

 again. There is plenty to learn about bats, 

 for really, compared with other animals, we 

 know so little of their habits. 



Take the matter of their young : how many 

 people have seen a baby bat, or can teU you 

 what one is like ? Most of the British bats 

 have only a single baby at a time, though 

 abroad it is the rule rather than the exception 

 for two little ones to be born. They are 

 naked pink mites at first, but have wonderful 

 powers of clinging, clutching to their mother's 

 fur, and never letting go until some weeks 

 old. The mother suckles her baby just like any 

 other animal, for bats are mammals, which 

 means they suckle their young. Wherever the 

 old bat goes she carries her little one with her, 

 and is quite at a loss what to do if anything 

 happens and she parts with it. Clinging to her 



18 



