428 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
"A BAT! A 
[COPT RIGHT SECTJEBD.] 
BAT! " — Drawn and Ent/raved for the American Agriculturist. 
Brora 
Dragon 
Da 
Danger 
Doab 
Broom 
Boone 
Dooah 
Bad 
Darling 
Itosdoin 
Dean 
Barll 
T)elr* 
fltirr »fjr> 
Dembla 
Droma 
Big 
Dolce 
Big Racoon 
Elm 
■ ■ ■ 
B m 
Jiorane 
Beat 
rcoro 
1 
Btecno 
Km 11 
Bo 
1 1 
■ 
■ 
Broad 
Kmlia 
Bar 
Eno 
Rl Ain 
CnhoOl 
Blon 
Cabrlel 
Klorn 
I'm. 
Oarleb 
Gaboon 
Galore 
Grande 
tiard 
Camel 
Garden 
Camoge 
(ilronde 
■ 
Oldea 
Carhon 
Goorbau 
Colomcra 
Golo 
Cologne 
Cnribon 
Gall 
Ollna 
Carmen 
Cnrron 
(lien 
Cedar 
Glenc/tr 
Colore 
Gair 
Cc^-i 
a are 
Cimarron 
OkMi 
Clnln 
Gairdn* 
Coca 
t .nn 
Clam 
Oar 
Lay} do 
Largo 
Looga 
Looe 
Line 
Line 
Lomane 
Lomnica 
I s>nn 
Locdo An 
Labe 
Laber 
1,ambro 
Lar 
I 
i e i 
■ ■ 
Main 
Macon 
Mad 
Magro 
Maine 
Main 
Marco i 
Ma ron 1 
Mi dii n 
■ ■ 
Mi i i ',vmi 
Moero 
Mole 
M'hlre 
Morar 
Mondct;o 
Mono 
Mod 
Media 
Mount 
Moore 
Moruaa 
Mora 
W<>-r 
Ubnar 
More 
Morne 
Odd 
Olla 
Orel 
Onega 
Oneida 
Oo 
Oranne 
Orblgo 
Orb 
Ori 
Orno 
Olgon 
Qrlng 
Orca 
Obo 
Rett 
Rea 
Bamor 
Robe 
Roman 
Roden 
Ratio 
I lion 
Rimn 
Roneador 
ttodcrg 
Roe 
Boer 
lltct 
Red 
■ 
Rcpa 
[toiler 
■ ■ 
Rluaco 
Ken a 
1Mb 
Rlnde 
RtUMO 
Rloa 
Rodinjr 
Real 
Edwards, 331 ; Mary F. Sinclair, 320 ; Kate E. S., 319 ; 
F. R. Gardner, 31S; "Kitty Clover," 315; and Hudson 
S Day, 309. For other names sec page 437. 
-aw 
A. B. C. sends HSfi names ; Jearnlc V. B. O., 581 ; 
Sadie R. W., 530; H. L. S., 391; A. W. McC 3S9; 
M. F. B., 3S7. 
Nest to these, and deserving especial mention, are 
Root. N. Harwell (" Great Saint Bernard "), 864 ; O. W. 
Fanning, 357; M. L. B., 350; KJtUe M C., 866; Amy R. 
About Hats. 
But few boy? and girls, especially if they live in the 
country, have not witnePSCd a scene like that shown in 
tbe engraving. Of a summer evening there is found to 
i omething silently flitting abont the room, and soon 
the alarm is given <>f " a hat ! B bat ! " an 1 all is at once 
confusion. The whole household is In anna with brooms, 
towels, and other handy weapons, and engaged In n very 
unequal battle with the quirt visitor. The result of the 
conflict is to drive out the hat, or more commonly, we 
fear, to maim or kill It. Sometime*, a wing 
broken, the animal drops to tbe door, and one of its 
thoughtless enemies, courageous enough when he thinks 
the poor creature dead, picks np the maimed body, and 
gets a sharp nip as a small reward for his cruelty. When 
the battle is all over, and the enemy killed, did yon ever 
look to see what a beautiful creature had been need- 
lessly destroyed ? There are several kind- of bats [blind 
in the United States, some in the Sonthern Btatea ami on 
the Pacific coast being quite different in many respects 
from the kinds common in the Eastern States. They all 
agree in having most curious and delicate wings. The 
fingers arc wonderfully long, and the membrane Qt skin 
which forms the wing begins at the neck and is spread 
from one finger to the other, and in our common bats 
passes around the body so as to take in the tail. What 
would correspond to the thumb in the bat is very abort, 
and has n sharp hook at the end. The hind feet are very 
weak, and have five toes armed with sharp claws. A bat 
makes a very clumsy figure when it attempts to walk, 
and shuffles along in an amusing manner, buL on the 
wing ii moved about with wonderful grace and agility 
Then you will notice what exceedingly small eyes bats 
have, but what they seem to lack in the sense of sight is 
more than made up to them in that of hearing, the ears 
in all being very large. So sensitive are both cars and 
wings, that when the animal is completely blindfolded 
by a strap of leather over its eyes it will fly through 
rooms and crooked passages without once hitting the 
walls or any obstacle that may be placed in its way. 
During the day the bats bide in cave?, old buildings, hol- 
low trees, and other dark places, and come out only at 
night in search of their food. When at rest they hang 
by the hooks upon their Wings or by their hind feet, and 
they sometimes bang to one another and form large 
masses. In cold climates they pass the winter in a torpid 
suspended in this way. The writer once lived near 
a ruined church in one of the Sonthern States w lien the 
bats congregated in countless thousands. When flifl- 
tnrbed the chirping they made was almost deafening. 
They had been there in undistnrbed possession so long 
that their droppings covered the floor to the depth of 
some two feet. Some of the bats of the tropics have the 
reputation of attacking man, when asleep, and domestic 
animals for the purpose of feeding upon their blood ; but 
all of our bats arc not only perfectly harmless, but arc 
really useful little animals. When they are seen darling 
about in the dusk, with such rapid turnings and appar- 
• iitly mysterious movements, they are in pursuit of in- 
sects, which form the food of all our specie?". Living in 
dai k and lonesome places by dfly t and only flying about 
noiselessly by night, it is no wonder that in olden times 
the people were superstitions about bats, but since they 
have been studied and we know more about them there 
is no reason to regard them with dread. When a bat 
enters a room, probably in chase of some injurious in- 
sect, U is hardly fair to treat it as an enemy; but it would 
be much better to politely lower the tops of the windows 
and let it depart unharmed. 
