HABITS OF BATS 
61 
says, of the thousands that inhabit Mammoth 
Cave, “ they fly readily if disturbed in summer, 
but in winter they hang apparently dead. If 
disturbed, a few respiratory movements may 
be seen, and they may utter a few squeaks, 
when they again remain apparently lifeless. If 
knocked from the roof some of them fall to the 
bottom of the cave and flap about, others fly 
away. I have seen them leave a cave in mid- 
winter, after being disturbed, but fly no further 
than a hundred yards, then turn and enter the 
cave again.” 
In central Montana, where there are no trees, 
I once found a large colony of bats inhabiting a 
cave that a subterranean stream had washed 
under the prairie. In Arizona there is a cave 
which is said to contain “ a million ” bats. Once 
while hunting elephants in the Malay Peninsula, 
the attention of my companion and myself was 
arrested by a strange, pungent odor which filled 
the air. Upon investigating the cause of it, we 
discovered a large cave of a very interesting 
character, inhabited by thousands of bats, and 
floored with a layer of bat guano a foot or more 
in depth, representing the accumulation of a 
century. 
In warm countries, bats inhabit hollow trees. 
But do they inhabit such homes, and actually 
hibernate in them in winter, in the temperate 
zone? On this point, direct evidence is desirable. 
Dr. C. Hart Merriam has proved that some bats 
of the North American temperate zone do mi- 
grate, as birds do, going south in winter and re- 
turning in spring. 
The conditions of wild life in the temperate 
zone are rather unfavorable to the development 
of large bats, and for this reason none of the 
bats of the United States are of large size or com- 
manding importance. The large fruit-bats, or 
“flying foxes,” can exist only where they can 
procure a good supply of fruit all the year round ; 
and for this reason they are mainly confined to 
the tropics. During our northern winter, a true 
vampire bat could indeed prey upon the blood of 
domestic animals; but in zero weather, the naked 
wings of such a creature would freeze stiff in a 
very few moments. The large vampire bat of 
India, for some reason called the “false” vam- 
pire (M eg-a-der' ma ly'ra), which devours small 
frogs, fishes, small birds, and even bats smaller 
than itself, could live in our southern and 
southwestern states, but it would be impos- 
sible for it to go far north of the frost line. 
All bats inhabiting the colder regions of the 
temperate zone, within the snow limit, must 
either hibernate in winter, without food, or 
migrate. 
Owing to the great number of species of bats, 
and of the many groups into which they have 
been divided, it is desirable to mention here only 
a few examples with which every intelligent 
person should be acquainted. 
The bats have been divided by Nature into 
two Suborders, and six Families, as follows : 
THE ORDER OF BATS 
SUBORDERS. 
FAMILIES. 
EXAMPLES. 
Insect-Eating 
Bats: 
Mi-cro-chi-rop' - 
ter-a. 
Fruit-Eating 
Bats: 
M eg-a-chi-rop' - 
ter-a. 
Leaf-Nosed Bats, . 
Free-Tailed Bats, 
Common Bats, . . 
False Vampires, . 
Horseshoe Bats, . 
Flying Foxes, . . 
PH YL-LOS- TO-MA T’ I -DAE 
Leaf-Nosed Bat. 
Blainville’s Bat. 
Javelin Bat. 
Great Vampire. 
EM-BAL-LO-NU' RI-DAE, . 
f Bonneted Bat. 
1 Naked Bat. 
f Red Bat. 
VES-PER-TiL-i-ON' i-DAE . Gray Bat. 
' Big-Eared Bat. 
MEG-A-DER-M at 1 i-dae, . False Vampire. 
RH I-NO-LOP IP I-DAE , . . 
^ Flying Fox. 
PTER-O-POD' I-dae, . . -j Hammer-Headed 
( Bat. 
