The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-11-16
A Texas Bat Cave,

AcAuS Ddb Oo'Os
Western Texas, says a correspondent,
abounds in bats, and the collecting and
shipping of "bat guano" bids fair to
be one of the prominent industries of
the State. About twenty miles north
of San Antonio is one of these bat
caves. The shaft is used only for
hosting out the guano, the entrance,
both for man and bat, is at the natural
portal in the center of an oak grove.
In spite Of the odor and the pungent
ammonia 1 climbed halfway down
the incline, but the creatures looked SO
uncanny upon a near approach that
/ was fain to beat a retreat, and
stationing myself on smooth rock,
directly over the entrance, awaited
as patiently as possible the time
when they should see fit to come out.
Suddenly l was aware of bat gyra-
ting around the bottom of the pit III
an irresolute, indefinite, but exceed
ingly rapid flight. And 10 instead Of
one there were three of them crossing
and recrossing each others tracks, and
then cas- quick as a wink " the pit was
full of them A stream of them was
pouring from the archway into the
bowl, like a stream of water from q
sluiceway opening into the bottom of
a tank, and like it they swirled around
and around in rapid whirlpool from
the left to right, crowding so closely
that they hid the rock on the opposite
side, flooding the pit higher and higher,
until they reached the brim, when they
overhowcd at point just above where
1 was sitting and poured off between
two trees toward the eastward.
At first l was afraid lest some clumsy
one might strike me in the face, but
/ very soon saw that l was in no dan
ger, for, however erratic their motions,
they managed to avoid each other in
spite of the fact that there were at
least three bats to every cubic foot of
space in Il column full thirty feet in
diameter, and all in rapid motion.
Possibly they took me for a stump, for,
though as the column swayed from
side to side i was at times in the very
thick of them, none of them so much
as grazed me. The head of the column
led off due east and the rest followed
in a straight line, though the indi-
vidual members acted on the prin-
ciple of "diversity in unity" for
they never retained their relative posi-
tions for moment, but snarled them
selves up incessantly, while single
ones, crazier than their fellows, turned
f,,-n r.. N
hook, and even then were sucked back
into the current and swept on by it.
The whirr of the myriad wings was
tremendous Nothing is more noise
less than the flight of single bat as
he declines "to come into the hat" but
the beating of those thousand wings
was like the roar of a tempest They
made no other sound, their shrill
squeaking being hushed as they came
out of the cave, 1t was exactly
7:15 o'clock when the first
bat appeared and ten min
utes later, when 1 turned to watch the
direction Of their flight, the head OF
the column was lost in the distance
The superintendent told me that Otter
when they have come out early he ha
marked the column. for fully ten miles
still keeping together, and al headin!
in one direction. Even with power
full field glass he has never been abb
to perceive any deviation from the di
rection, whatever it may be, that the,
take at starting. Darkness descende,
while | watched the stream as, wit
undiminishcd volume, it poured out 0
the archway, swirlcd around an
flowed eastward.