CHAPTER VI. 



PARENTAL AND EARLY INSTINCTS. 



Undee this heading I have put together several 

 notes from my journals on subjects which have no 

 connection with each other, except that they relate 

 chiefly to the parental instincts of some animals I 

 have observed, and to the instincts of the young 

 at a very early period of life. 



While taking bats one day in December, I cap- 

 tured a female of our common Buenos Ayrean 

 species (Molossus bonariensis), with her two 

 young attached to her, so large that it seemed 

 incredible she should be able to fly and take insects 

 with such a weight to drag her down. The young 

 were about a third less in size than the mother, so 

 that she had to carry a weight greatly exceeding 

 that of her own body. They were fastened to her 

 breast and belly, one on each side, as when first 

 born ; and, possibly, the young bat does not change 

 its position, or move, like the young developed 

 opossum, to other parts of the body, until 

 mature enough to begin an independent life. 

 On forcibly separating them from their parent, I 

 found that they were not yet able to fly, but when 

 set free fluttered feebly to the ground. This bat 

 certainly appeared more burdened with its young 



