s to have a pair of short-pointed ears. The
Long-eared Bat flies very late in the evening, and indeed seems to
continue its activity throughout the night; its food appears to
consist to a great extent of the smaller moths, although other insects
are by no means disdained. This species also soon becomes very tame
and familiar; it will fly about the room, play with its fellows, and
come fearlessly to take its food from the hand. Professor Bell gives
an interesting account of one kept by Mr. James Sowerby, which, "when
at liberty in the parlor, would fly to the hand of any of the young
people who held up a fly toward it, and, pitching on the hand, take
the fly without hesitation. If the insect was held between the lips,
the Bat would then settle on its young patron's cheek, and take the
fly with great gentleness from the mouth; and so far was this
familiarity carried, that, when either of the young people made a
humming noise with the mouth, in imitation of an insect, the Bat would
search about the lips for the promised dainty." This habit of taking
its food when off the wing, would seem to be natural to the Long-eared
Bat under certain circumstances, as Mr. Tomes records his having seen
one feeding in this manner upon the myriads of small moths which
swarmed about a spindle tree in bloom.

[Illustration: LONG-EARED BAT.]

It is unnecessary to say that the creatures which display all this
activity and intelligence are well endowed with at least all the
senses possessed by the other animals of their class. The organs of
smell and hearing are well developed, and in many cases associated
with external membranous expansions of great size, as seen in the ears
of the Long-eared Bat; and the eyes, though generally of small size
except in the Fruit Bats, are bright and efficient, serving the
creatures in good stead in the rapid pursuit of their insect-prey,
which must be directed principally by sight. The common expression "as
blind as a Bat," must be taken to apply to Bats accidentally driven
from their retreats in the day-time, when it must be confessed that
they fly about in a dazed manner; but at night and in their dark
retreats they show no such imbecility of purpose, but find their way
with astonishing precision and certainty. In fact, instead of being
blind, the Bats must be especially sharp-sighted, if all their
evolutions be guided by the sense of sight, for in many cases they
habitually resort to the inmost recesses of