group
show considerable fondness for their young. In other respects,
perhaps, they do not all shine quite so brilliantly, for, as we have
seen, the Fruit Bats squabble very selfishly for the most convenient
sleeping places, as indeed do other gregarious species of the order,
and some of the former quarrel and fight over their food. As regards
amiability of character, however, there is probably considerable
difference between different kinds of Bats; at any rate, in
confinement, they show much diversity of temper, some of them being
sullen, refusing food, and biting vigorously at their captors or the
bars of their prison, while others are easily tamed and soon become
familiar. Two of the commonest species, the Pipistrelle, and the
Long-eared Bat are among the latter. The Pipistrelle, which appears to
be abundant throughout Britain, and indeed in most of the northern
temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere, is a small reddish-brown
species, measuring little more than one inch and a half in length
without the tail, but with a spread of wing of more than eight inches.
Its regular food consists chiefly of gnats, midges, and other small
flies, in pursuit of which it often frequents the vicinity of water,
but it has a curious predilection for raw meat, and in search of this
it often makes its way into pantries, where the little thief will be
found clinging to a joint of meat, and feeding upon it with avidity.
This fondness for meat makes the Pipistrelle very easy to keep in
confinement, as it diminishes the necessity of finding it insect food,
and the little creature will in time become so tame as to take pieces
of meat from its owner's fingers. It is an active and lively little
creature, flying, running, and climbing about with great ease; in the
latter operation, according to Professor Bell, it makes use of the
extreme tip of the tail as if it was a finger.

The Long-eared Bat, so called from the great size of its ears, which
are nearly as long as the whole animal exclusive of the tail, has
perhaps a wider distribution than the Pipistrelle, but is hardly so
abundant in Britain. Its head and body measure nearly two inches long,
while its wings spread to about ten inches. This Bat generally sleeps
during the day under the roofs of houses and in church towers, and
when sleeping its long ears are carefully stowed away under the folded
wings, but the earlet or inner lobe of the ear still projects, so that
the creature appear