(_For illustration, see page 566_)
Bats reach their greatest development in the tropics, where a marvelous
variety of these curious mammals exist. To the northward the number
of species gradually decreases, until eventually, in northern Canada
and Alaska, a single species represents the group. The United States,
occupying the middle latitudes, has a considerable number of different
kinds. Some of these remain throughout the year, hibernating in caves
during the period of cold, when insects are not to be had; others wing
their way southward like birds on the approach of winter and return in
spring.
All bats are nocturnal, although individuals of some species
occasionally fly about for a time by day and many come out just before
or soon after sunset. In this country practically all species are
insectivorous, but in Mexico and the West Indies many are fruit-eaters
and a few true vampires or blood-suckers.
As a rule, bats are clothed in dull colors, but richly tinted coats
give a few a more attractive appearance. Of these none has a more
striking adornment than that presented by the soft covering of glossy
orange-red fur of the red bat. Its large size, about four inches in
total length, with a spread of wings amounting to twelve inches,
combined with its color, suffices to distinguish it at once from any
other northern species.
The range of the red bat extends from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific
and from Ontario and Alberta in southern Canada south throughout most
of the United States to the Gulf coast and southern California; also
beyond our limits to Lower California and Costa Rica. The genus to
which this bat belongs ranges more widely in other parts of North
America; also to South America and across the eastern Pacific to the
Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands.
The red bat rarely or never seeks shelter in gloomy caves and crevices,
but hangs to the small twigs or leaf stems on trees and bushes in the
full light of the sun. One observer in Texas on July 4 found four of
them hanging in a cluster from a twig on a peach tree, with the sun
shining full on them, although the temperature in the shade was 82
degrees Fahrenheit. I have found them in northern Illinois in the
glaring sunlight of May, hanging from leaves in the tops of oak trees.
This unusual tolerance of light in a member of the bat tribe is further
shown by its habit of beginning to hunt through the air for insects
earlier in the afternoon than other species in its range.
[Illustration: BIG DOG TROTTING
This track of a big dog trotting in about two and a half inches of snow
is singular in the perfect register it shows. The hind foot drops each
time into the track of the front foot. This correct style is more usual
with wild than with tame animals. Compare with track of dog galloping,
page 596.]
[Illustration: A COMMON DOG
The hind feet are, as usual, narrower, though nearly as long as the
front. The dog is a loose walker. Sometimes the hind foot is on the
track of the front, sometimes ahead, and often behind. The claws show.
The dragging of the front feet is another slovenly habit, an evidence
of overdomestication.]
Long, narrow wings and swift, powerful flight characterize the red bats
in the air. They have marvelous control in darting and turning here and
there, and no birds, except possibly the chimney swifts, can equal them
in their extraordinary gyrations.
Red bats are known to migrate from the northern part of their range
in September or October and to return in May. They have been seen
going south at Cape Cod the last of August and in September; and late
in October Dr. E. A. Mearns has recorded great flights of them down
the Hudson Valley, lasting throughout the day. That they share the
vicissitudes of migrating birds is indicated by observation on the New
Jersey coast of stray individuals coming in from the sea exhausted
early on September mornings.
They are among the most solitary of their kind, usually being found
hanging singly on a tree or bush, sometimes within a few feet of the
ground. On occasion they gather in clusters as mentioned above, and in
one instance in Maryland more than a dozen were hanging in a compact
ball, which suddenly exploded into its winged parts when disturbed.
One of the most unusual characteristics of the red bat is found in the
number of young it bears. Usually other species, except the hoary bat,
have one or two young, but at varying dates between May and July each
year the red bat produces from two to four, the average being three or
four. The young when very small are carried clinging to the body of
the mother in her flights. She continues to take them from place to
place in this manner until their combined weight exceeds her own. The
strength of the maternal feeling in this species is well illustrated by
an instance in Philadelphia where a boy caught a half-grown red bat in
a city square and carried it home. In the evening, three hours later,
he crossed the same square, carrying the young bat in his hand, when
the old one came circling about him and finally in her deep anxiety
alighted on his breast. Both were brought in, the young one clinging to
its mother’s teat. The devoted mother received injuries when she was
captured, from which she died two days later.
In the contact between mankind and bats, man, the invariable aggressor,
finds the bats baring their teeth, biting viciously, squeaking, and
behaving altogether like little fiends. A gentler side is sometimes
exhibited, however, and one observer who caught a partly grown red
bat found that it became tame, showed intelligence, and developed a
friendly feeling for its captor.