ABOUT BATS.
This evening, while the boys were reading and talking to Mr. Harvey,
several bats flew in at the window. John caught one of them in his hat,
and placed it on the table for his cousin to examine. Samuel asked his
uncle if it would not fly away.
"No," said Mr. Harvey, "it cannot raise itself from the ground. What we
call its wings, are, you see, nothing but two thin skins, or membranes,
stretched from its hind legs to its fore ones, and fastened to its
sides. When flying, it spreads out its toes, so as to unfold these
membranes, and thus balances itself in the air."
"Do not some people think that the bat is a bird?" asked Samuel.
"Yes. But probably they never examined a bat closely. You see that it
looks nothing at all like a bird."
"Father," said John, "where did those great bats come from, which you
have in your cabinet?"
"From the island of Java," said Mr. Harvey. "They are called Java bats.
I have seen some with bodies as large as hens, and wings like umbrellas.
Hundreds of these animals fly about the gardens and orchards of that
island, every night, destroying great quantities of fruit. The people
there, spread nets over the trees, to protect the fruit, and shoot the
bats with guns, as you did the hawk."
"I have read, in a book of travels," said Samuel, "that while persons
are asleep, these bats, or some other large kind, suck their blood. Is
that true, sir?"
"No," said Mr. Harvey. "Such tales were long believed, even by writers
on natural history; and I have some where a picture of a monstrous bat
sucking the blood from a man's veins. But all this is now known to be
fabulous. No kind of bat will attack an animal as large as itself, nor
enter a house when there is an abundance of fruit and insects in the
field."
"Shall we let this bat go now?" said John. Mr. Harvey said yes; and then
John lifted it on a large sheet of paper, and threw it into the air. In
a moment it spread out its thin wings, and after flying about the room
two or three times, passed out of the window. Mr. Harvey told them, that
although the bat was so feeble when on the ground, yet its strength of
wing was greater than that of any bird.
[Illustration]