Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-09-07
Bats.
To D,e Editor ofhc Dispatch:

To he Editor ofhe Dispatch
Will Won nlease tell me where our bats p"
coma f,om and where they goI Is that
the real name for themP A SUBSCRIBE.
Bats are natives Of all the temperate and
tropical regions ofthe globe Cinciuding our
own land, of course). 1hey are
nocturnal in their habits, avoiding the
light and noise of day. In the warm sum-
mer evenings thew sally forth IN search OF
prey. and themselves fall easy victims to
the owls and birds of night and to any
snare that nav be set for them. They
pass the winter and indeed the greater
part of the year in state of torpidity.-
American C,clopGdiG. Bats are not migra-
tory as a rule, if our correspondent means
to question us on this point. The name
bat is from the Latin bldt'd; Low Latin
bnNa: Scotch back, and bdcE1e-bird. 1t Is
the real name of the bird-animal. See any
dictionary.
Possibly. though-probably, indeed
our friend refers to what Is ordinarily
known in Virginia as the Bull-bat, to dis
tinguish 1t from the leather-wing bat above
described. This bird, to the best OF our
knowledge and belief. is the Night Hawk
OF ornithology-"a North American goat
smoker of the sub-family cGpriDlulginde and
genus cliordeiles (Swains.)," to quote the
American Cyclop0dia. 'In the G. pT-
q,niauus (Swains. J" to continue our quota
ton from the authority referred to. the
length is nine and half inches, and the
extent of wings about twenty-three and a
half the bill Is very small and curved,
with wide cape furnished with a few very
short hairs. and the tip hooked the wings
very long and pointed; the tail long,
broad, and forked; the torsi short ana
partly feathered (the torsus is the third
segment of the Lego, the toes feeble; the
head large and fat the eyes and ears
large, the neck short. the body
slender. the plumage soft and blend
ed. &c. The common name OF this
bird is ill-chosen, as it is not hawk, nor
does it fly by night. In cloudy weather 1t
flies all day, and its fayorite time is from
an hour before sunset to dark. It's dis
tributed over North America, appearing IN
Louisiana on the way to the North and
East about April 1st, in the middle States
about May lst, in Maine about June, going
even into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,
and returning to the South in autumn.
The fight is rapid, light, and capable OF
long continuance. From the small size
and backward position of the legs 1t can
hardly walk or stand erect. 1t breeds from
South Carolina to Maine. In the middle
States it deposits two freckled eggs about
May Goth on the bare ground without any
nest. Both sexes assist in incubation
and the female adopts various devices
to distract attention from her eggs
or young. The food consists Of
insects, especially beetles, moths, cater
pillars, crickets, and grasshoppers; 1t
drinks while flying low over the water III
the manner of swallows. The flesh is es-
teemed as food when the birds return
from the north in autumn, as 1t is then tat
and Juicy. 1t Is the G.. popetl'e of BAIRD.
Other species are described" There IS
popular idea that confounds the night
hawk with the whippoorwill. 1t is with
out foundation in fact.