It is owing to this membranous sail that Bats direct their course through the air in the same manner as Birds. When they are at rest they fold their wings around them, covering their bodies as if in a mantle, similar to our closing an umbrella to diminish its volume when it is no longer required. This comparison is still more exact when we note that the curiously long fingers of the animal perfectly correspond to the ribs or rods of the umbrella.
Bats do not descend to the ground if it can possibly be helped, for they are very awkward and slow in attempting to walk along the ground; and besides this, when on the ground they find themselves in a very inconvenient position to resume their flight. Their case is then almost the same as that of high-soaring Birds, which, full of grace and assurance aloft, are compelled to resort to the most painful efforts to ascend again from low levels.
The Bats are classed as nocturnal animals, as they hunt their prey at night, and spend the day in caverns, lofts, church spires and old ruins, or the trunks of trees. Their eyes, although small, are organized for seeing, not in complete darkness but in the twilight, or in the feeble light of the moon and stars.
THE LONG-EARED BATS.
LONG EARED BATS.
The Long-eared Bat is one of the most interesting of the whole race. Its ears are twice as long as its head, and very nearly as long as the body, being an inch and a half from the base to the point. Within these large ears are what are known as the lesser ears, which are fine and transparent, and can be expanded and contracted by their owner to produce a beautiful feathery appearance, or festoon-like foldings.
This Bat measures about eighteen inches from tip to tip of its expanded wings.
THE LONG-NOSED BATS.
