[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
A SINGULAR genus of animals, partaking of the nature of both quadrupeds and birds, and which appears to be the link which unites these two kingdoms together. The common bat is much like a mouse, except that he has leather wings that support him in the air for the space of about an hour, after which he must cling to some wall or stump of tree to rest himself. Like other quadrupeds, the Bat is viviparous; she brings forth from two to five young and suckles them with her two teats, which, as in the human species, are placed very high on the breast. The eddies and circumvolutions of the Bat’s flight around the romantic ruins of some old castle or abbey, on a beautiful summer evening, are amusing to the imagination, and accord perfectly with the melancholy mood of the mind in such places and at such an hour. This creature lives not long, and the most part of its life, short as it is, is wasted in laziness and sleep; it passes the whole winter in a dormant state, and even in summer never ventures out but in a fine and warm evening, being much afraid of being caught in the rain. It is very harmless, and destroys a great quantity of gnats, moths, and other troublesome and noxious insects. The old fables of mythology hold them as an example of impiety, having been doomed to this transformation for their despising the feasts of one of the Gods.
