NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 347 
High on the stately dome, with harp in hand, 
Their himpisli deities exalted stand, 
Fixed as a public mark, that all might know, 
What wretched heavy stuff they print below," 
Pigeons at Oxford. — I was bom and brought up at Christ 
Church, Oxford. When my Father took us to church on a Sunday 
morning we always saw many pigeons at Carfax, where the four 
cross-roads meet. There were never any pigeons at Carfax 
except on Sunday morning — none on a w^eek-day. My father 
made us observe why the pigeons only came of a Sunday. 
The reason is that it is the custom of the farmers to meet at 
Carfax on Saturday and show samples of wheat to each other. 
The pigeons came on a Sunday morning to pick up the spilt 
grains. 
Bats, p. 36. — A Tame Bat from Bruges Cathedral. — My 
friend, Mr. Samuel Walker, thus describes his tame bat, Piggy : — 
" During a tour in Belgium, in 1874, we ascended the high belfry 
at Bruges, and while examining the bells my attention was drawn 
to a bat flying about. After half an hour's chase, I captured him 
and carried him off in my handkerchief. The little creature did 
its best to bite me, and on returning home I constructed a wire 
cage, in which it lived (or nearly died) for nine days. On my 
arrival in London I at once took it to Mr. Frank Buckland, who 
was charmed with my prize, and at once prescribed warmth, 
water, and meal-worms. Until his suggestions the little creature 
had been left in draughts and fed with flies and meal-worms. 
Mr. Buckland called to see it, and praised the new cage I had 
made for it, i.e., a box a foot square, lined with green baize, 
perforated zinc at the top, glass in the front, and a door at the 
back. ' Piggy/ for* that is the name we have given it, is now in 
good health, eats eight meal-worms daily, besides daddy-long- 
legs, of which he is very fond, and after he has eaten them 
smacks his lips and yawns. It frequently opens its mouth as if 
thirsty, and 1 immediately give it some water at the end of my 
finger. If I give it too much it squeaks like a mouse and tries 
to bite me. The size of the bat when asleep is not larger than 
an ordinary mouse. When flying it measures about eight inches 
from wing to wing. Inside the cage I put two small bottles 
with w^arm water. After a good meal it purrs louder than a cat, 
in comparison to its size, and if I stroke it gently it erects its 
ears, and puts first one and then the other up to be scratched. 
It has a coat about an eighth of an inch tliick. Its habits are 
cleanly, and its manners funny." Piggy lived about five months^ 
when he died. I cast him and painted him to life. 
