1807.] 
AMKRICAN AQP.IClJI/rUKIS'r. 
44.1 
Fndt-eating Bats—Flying Foxes. 
lu the last number of the Amefican 
AgriciilturUt, we introduced to our 
readers a mcniber of the very interest¬ 
ing order of animals—flying mammals— 
or bats. From wliat wo then wrote it 
might well be supposed that all bats live 
upon insects chiefly, and altogether up¬ 
on animal food, but this is not the case, 
though all occurring in this country do. 
There are about forty spec ies inhabiting 
the warmer parts of Asia and Africa, 
which live upon fruit, and do great 
damage to the orchards, especially to 
plantations of figs. These are generally 
bats of very large size, and to impress 
the fact that there are vegetarians even 
among bats, as well as to show the man¬ 
ner in which they close their skinny 
pinions when in repose, we present an 
engraving of the largest of the well- 
known bats, the Flying Fox of India, 
{Pter&piis rubricollis.) This animal meas¬ 
ures five feet from tip to tip of its ex¬ 
panded wings, and its head and iMxly ^ 
together are about one foot in length. 
Unlike the Vampire bat, which is not 
more than half as large, it is not dan¬ 
gerous to man or animals, except when 
attacked, when it defends itself as well 
as it can. The damage which flocks of 
these animals might do may easily be 
imagined when we consider the losses 
which we experience from birds. The 
Flying Foxes will work their way un¬ 
der or through nets, and unless trees are 
enclosed in bamboo cages, they can 
hardly be excluded. Their attacks are 
made during the night also, which renders it 
still more difficult to guard against them. 
Their name is given them from their color, 
and from the foxlike shape of their heads. 
The American Sable. — Americana.) 
This beautiful animal, of which wc give a 
careful and well executed engraving, is entirely 
different from the 
Sable of Siberia, 
the fur of which is 
so highly prized. 
Still, the American 
Sable approaches 
its namesake some¬ 
what in the beauty 
of its coat, but is a 
much larger ani¬ 
mal. It is so close¬ 
ly related to the 
Pine ilarten of Eu¬ 
rope as to have been 
regarded as identi¬ 
cal by several nat¬ 
uralists. The home 
of this animal is in 
the trees of densely 
■wooded regions 
where birds and 
squirrels abound, 
■which constitute its 
chief food, and to 
which it is a very 
destructive enemy. 
It will pursue al¬ 
most any of the smaller animals, and easily 
overtake and kill them; the red squirrel and 
some of the weasel tribe alone being agile 
FLYixa FOX— rubricaliU ) 
enough to escape. It climlw the highest trees 
like a squirrel, attacks owls, crows, and other 
birds in their nests, and sucks the eggs, or 
devours the young. The Sable is about 20 
inches long, exclusive of the tail, which is ahout 
10 inches. The fur is Lawny to dark brown, 
in some cases approaching black—the darker 
and brighter, the more valuable. Both the size 
and color vary greatly. The h'*ad is light col¬ 
yr' 
AMERICAN 8.UJLE —(Miistilla Americana.) 
ored, and the throat and sides of the neck arc 
white. The head is long and pointed; the some¬ 
what pointed ears, broad and short. The tail la 
bushy and club-shaiicd. The geograph¬ 
ical range of the Bublc is across the 
continent, between the 40ih and 08lh 
parallels of latitude, and throughout this 
region it is diligently hunted. Trap¬ 
pers establish what is called a “ Sable 
line,” often CO or 70 miles in length. 
This is a series of traps, eight or ten to 
the mile, matle -by driving stakes into 
the ground to form three sides of a hol¬ 
low square ; over the fourth side, one 
end of a log or tnmk of a young tree is 
8usi>cnded, being held up by a round 
stick re.'Jting upon another which is bait¬ 
ed with a bird, squirrel, or piece of veni¬ 
son. The least disturbance of the bait 
causes the sticks to roll, and the log to 
full. It often happens that wolverines, 
fishers, and occa.sionally foxes, tear 
open these traps, destroying liuit and 
game for miles along the “ line.” The 
trapper passes continually back and 
forth, spending some part of his time in 
hunting other game, but visiting all his 
sable traps ns often ns once in two 
weeks. The fur is Irest between the last 
of October and the first of April. The 
female, as her time approaches, takes 
possession of an abandoned bird’s ncsi 
in a hollow tree, or ousts the occupants, 
and in this she brings forth six or eight 
young. AVcrc it not for the persistence 
with which these animals arc hunted, 
they would be much more numerous; 
as it is they hardly hold their own from 
year to year in those parts whore they 
arc abundant enough to pay for huntinj^ 
them, for they exhibit very llillo cnn. 
ning in avoiding traps, and it i'i hardly 
probable that the natural timidity of the animal 
will ever be so far overcome ns to render it 
obnoxious to agriculture in destroying birds, 
- - —I » 
Tim Bunker on Base Ball Clubs. 
“Don't you think they arc running on’t into 
the ground ;iskcd Seth T wiggs, as he sloped 
at my garden fence, when I was gaUjejm" 
squashes this mor¬ 
ning. “ I du declare 
there’ll be a slim 
chance to get any¬ 
body to work, if 
things kcei)S on in 
this wa)'. We shall 
be as bad off as they 
arc among the In¬ 
dians, where the 
women do all the 
drudgery, and the 
men play all the 
time they ain’t fight- 
in’. I hired Kiah 
Frink and another 
White Oaker to 
come down and 
help me husk, and 
they had to loavo 
right away nrtcr 
dinner to go to a 
b.asc ball match. 
They said they 
wouldn’t stop for 
double wages, for 
they could make 
more money on the ball ground betting. They 
knew which side was gwinc to win. Pretty 
state of things I” Seth thought the case was so 
