246 FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY. 



very email and mostly hidden under the fur, while the ears 

 are small and concealed by the hair. 



Yin,. 245.— Common Shrew. 



In the little shrews, the feet are more as in mice, and 

 the tail'is long (Pig. 245). 



The Bats. — These flying creatures, living as they do a 

 part of their time on the wing, are the very opposites of the 

 moles, and their whole body shows a thorough adaptation 

 to their needs. If the mole's fore-limbs are remarkably 

 short and spade-like, those of the bats go to an opposite ex- 

 treme, and are remarkably long and slender, especially the 

 third, fourth, and fifth fingers. A thin, naked membrane 

 connects the fore and hind limbs, forming two great wings. 

 The shoulders are well braced by collar-bones, and even as 

 in birds the breastbone is somewhat keeled for the inser- 

 tion of the large pectoral muscles. 



Bats are more common than generally supposed, and 

 they owe their immunity from harm to their powers of 

 rapid flight, and their twilight habits, while they live in 

 caves and in hollow trees by day. Bats hibernate in the 

 same situations, going into winter quarters in the autumn, 

 and reappearing in the warm twilight of spring. Though 

 the eyes are small, and the sight, so far as we know, defi- 

 cient in keenness, they show wonderful skill in avoiding 

 objects during their rapid flight. The ears are very large, 

 and in the vampires the nose is adorned with sensitive, 

 le^if-like growths of complicated fprni, Certain bats, but 



