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31 



the short-tailed shrew, or blarina 



The curious grooved track in the snow with the tail mark is seen 

 on the left (see pages 404 and 487) 



characterize the red bats in the air. They have 

 marvelous control in darting and turning here 

 and there, and no birds, except possibly the 

 chimney swifts, can equal them in their extra- 

 ordinary gyrations. 



Red bats are known to migrate from the 

 northern part of their range in September or 

 October and to return in May. They have been 

 seen going south at Cape Cod the last of 

 August and in September ; and late in October 

 Dr. E. A. Mearns has recorded great flights of 

 them down the Hudson Valley, lasting through- 

 out the day. That they share the vicissitudes 



O] migrating birds is in- 

 dicated by observation 

 on the New Jersey coast 

 of stray individuals com- 

 ing in from the sea ex- 

 hausted early on Septem- 

 ber mornings. 



They are among the 

 most solitary of their 

 kind, usually being found 

 hanging singly on a tree 

 or bus h, sometimes 

 within a few feet of the 

 ground. On occasion 

 they gather in clusters 

 as mentioned above, and 

 in one instance in Alary- 

 land more than a dozen 

 were hanging in a com- 

 pact ball, which suddenly 

 exploded into its winged 

 parts when disturbed. 



One of the most un- 

 usual characteristics of 

 the red bat is found in 

 the number of young it 

 bears. Usually other spe- 

 cies, except the hoary 

 bat, have one or two 

 young, but at varying 

 dates between May and 

 July each year the red 

 bat produces from two 

 to four, the average be- 

 ing three or four. The 

 young when very small 

 are carried clinging to 

 the body of the mother 

 in her flights. She con- 

 tinues to take them from 

 place to place in this man- 

 ner until their combined 

 weight exceeds her own. 

 The strength of the ma- 

 ternal feeling in this spe- 

 cies is well illustrated by 

 an instance in Philadel- 

 phia where a boy caught 

 a half-grown red bat in 

 a city square and carried 

 it home. In the evening, 

 three hours later, he 

 crossed the same square, 

 carrying the young bat 

 in his hand, when the 

 old one came circling 

 about him and finally in her deep anxiety 

 alighted on his breast. Both were brought in, 

 the young one clinging to its mother's teat. 

 The devoted mother received injuries when 

 she was captured, from which she died two 

 days later. 



In the contact between mankind and bats, 

 man, the invariable aggressor, finds the bats 

 baring their teeth, biting viciously, squeaking, 

 and behaving altogether like little fiends. A 

 gentler side is sometimes exhibited, however, 

 and one observer who caught a partly grown 

 red bat found that it became tame, showed in- 





