f 163 3 



ESSAY II. 



ON THE BAT, OR R E R E-M O U S E. 



TH E Bat is fo difagreeable an animal, that we are gene- 

 rally defirous of avoiding it rather than examining into 

 its habits; the confequence of which averfion is, that we are 

 more ignorant with regard to its natural hiftory, than perhaps 

 of any other animal of the fame fize. 



Hideous as it may appear to our eyes, yet, if we are to believe 

 Johnfon a (who is a writer of merit), there is a perpetual alliance 

 between them and pigeons, infomuch, that if the head of a Bat 

 is fixed upon the top of a pigeon-houfe, the pigeons will never 

 leave it. I profefs, however, that I cannot hear this animal hath 

 any other friend or ally, and they muft naturally be dreaded 

 by moths or other infects of the night b , as much as hawks are 

 the terror of our fmaller birds; nature is one perpetual fcene of 

 warfare, for the fake of food, and Bats again become the prey of 

 owls. 



A triend of mine kept one for ten days, and was much 

 amufed with its manner of taking flies on which it chiefly lived c ; 



a Nat. Hift. 1657, folio. Amfterdam. 



b Or to fpeak more accurately of the evening and morning twilights, 

 as Bats are feldom feen at midniglit. Bats, however, are alfo fond of 

 bacon, and perhaps other meats : in the Eaft Indies likewife fome fpecies 

 devour both fruits and leaves of the trees. Linfchoten's Voyages. Others 

 prey on filh. 



* c Gefner fays, that Bats will live many days without any fuftenance. 



Y 2 Linnaeus 



