494 



MISCELLANIES. 



BY SOLITARIUS. 



When the swallow and other birds at evening suspend their ento- 

 mological researches, the bat comes forth to commence a sharp and fatal 

 attack among the nocturnal insects, and very pleasing it is to observe 

 with what extraordinary agility he performs his swift aerial gyrations, 

 for the purpose of capturing the little gnats and moths that have attracted 

 the attention of his quick and observant eye. It is said that burs, if 

 whitened with chalk, and thrown up into the air where bats are flying, 

 will attract them, owing to their appearing like white moths, and from 

 their sticking to their furry bodies prevent them flying, and cause them 

 to drop upon the earth, a prey to those who practise this artifice. 

 Though this plan may not fail in its purpose, yet the success of it I do 

 not think depends upon the bats mistaking the whitened burs for 

 moths, but consider that it results merely from their accidentally coming 

 in contact with them. At the back of my residence bats fly almost 

 every evening, and from experiments which I have tried with them, I 

 have been induced to form a much higher opinion of their sagacity than 

 to suppose that they would mistake inanimate substances for living 

 prey. When they have been passing and re -passing by my window at 

 dusk, I have flung out small pieces of white wool, which, when borne 

 upon the breeze, more nearly resembled white moths, than would burs 

 when ejected into the air ; yet I never once saw the bats, although they 

 flew close to them, take the least notice of them, but, upon exchanging 

 these dead baits for live moths, they instantly pounced upon them. On 

 the 2nd of this month I was very much amused by watching a bat flying 

 about some trees in a field near Camden Town, which frequently 

 descended from aloft, and skimmed along the grass in the manner of a 

 swallow, the object of its doing so being, most probably, to capture the 

 smaller insects flying near the earth's surface. 



In the " Habits of Birds" is a chapter upon the longevity of certain 

 species, but as I do not see any instance of this kind respecting the 

 swan, I beg to introduce the following account into the pages of your 

 Magazine, the fittest place for it. " The other day a male swan, which 

 had seen many generations come and go, and witnessed the other muta- 

 tions incident to the lapse of 200 years, died at Rosemount. He was 

 brought to Dun when the late John Erskine, Esq. was in infancy, and 

 was then said to be 100 years old. About two years ago he was pur- 



