28 LITTLE FOLKS 
This droll fellow we call a Bat, though the big books give him 
the name of Cheiroptera. And there are other curious things 
about him besides his way of hanging by the heels. 
To begin with, he has very odd wings. They are not of 
feathers, like a bird's, but are made of skin and shaped like a hand ; 
just as if your fingers were as long as your whole arm, and over the 
fingers and arm and fastened to the side of the body was stretched 
skin, just like that on your body. Then the thumb belonging to 
this wing-hand sticks straight up, with a very useful nail on it. 
This singular fellow has a wonderful delicacy of touch. Even 
if he is blind, he flies around without hitting anything, because he 
can feel the things before he gets quite to them. 
Another funny thing is the way Mamma Bat carries her baby. 
At first she holds it in her arms, like any mamma, wrapping it up 
in her curious wings ; but when it is a few days old the comical 
baby learns to hang by its heels, and then she flies about after 
food, with the baby hanging to her fur. 
Their common food is insects, such as flies and other winged 
creatures, and they catch them flying. 
One of the family, who is called the Flying Fox, however, eats 
fruit ; and in Siam there are so many of them that fruit-trees are 
protected by making a sort of bamboo cage over them. 
Another Bat of the West Indies eats green peas, cutting a 
hole in the pod over each pea and taking it out. 
The Vampire Bat, who lives in South America, when insects 
are scarce, has a fancy for fresh blood, which he collects for him- 
self by biting a hole in the skin of some animal, and drawing the 
blood till he is satisfied. 
When cold weather comes on, and the insects are all dead or 
hidden away in snug houses, to wait for spring, the Bat takes 
up his winter-quarters in some quiet place, hangs himself up by the 
heels, and sleeps till spring. 
There are several kinds of Bats — some no larger than a honey- 
bee, and others as large as a hen, with wings four or five feet 
across. 
They refuse to live as prisoners ; no one has been able to keep 
them more than a few days. One naturalist, who tried to keep 
them alive, so as to watch their habits, tells an amusing story 
about their eating. He found that they liked raw meat ; so he 
hung a piece up in the cage. When they were hungry, they 
