The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1890-12-25
TWO QUEER CREATURES.


Habits and Peculiaritics Of the Eat anal
the Whale. s,
Only one species of featherless an&i
NAL that can fly exists In oil the worlds
and 1t is one that you probably havbl
often seen. Properly speaking ithss mol
wings, nevertheless It's flying appur-
tenance is more nearly perfect than
that Of any bird. 1t flies with wonder
full rapidity, darts about with SUCH
quiskness that it is difficult for the eyS|
to follow it, and its sense of touch and
smell are something marvellous.
In watching it's rapid and eccentric
fight in the twilight you have, no doubt.
thought that this strange animal is bird,
But Its bird-lilo appearance ends with
its ability to Fly. Its young are born and
nurtured just as arc puppies and kittens.
This strange flying animal is the bat,
says writer in tho Philadelphia Times.
In one OF Esop's fables 1t is related that
the beasts and the birds once engaged
in battle, and the bat lowered above,
changing from ono side to the other, az
the chances of victory changed. For
this treachery the bat was doomed to
the queer life he now leads, that Of an
apparent bird, but a real mammalian ami
NAL.
The structure of the bat Is very pccul-
lar. An eminent naturalist says, "If
the fingers of man were TO be drawn
out like wire to about four feet In
length. thin membrane to extend from
finger to finger, and another membrane
to fall from the li,lle finger to the
ankles, he would make very tclorable
bat" Yes, the whole skeleton Of the
bat is very similar to that of man. with
the exception of the great clongation
of what We may call the arms and
hands.
When you sec the bat darting about in
the evening he is taking his supper. lie
lives as the swallow does, on insects in
the air and, although his sight is very
poor, his touch and smell ere SO sensi-
tive that he has no difficulty in catch
ing his prey. even when flying SO very
fast.
When cold weather comes on the bat
ceases to fly about in search of food. lie
doesn't noed to. He seeks we'll shell
tered nook, where he is not likely to be
| disturbed, and quietly takes nap till
next spring!
oOneWudI dualupOuS W Une Dab, Un0
mammalian of the air, is tho whale, the
mammalian of the sea. The whale is no
more q fish than the bat is o bird. It's
| young are born like the kittens and the
| puppies, but only one at a timo. The
! young whale takes it's nourishment at
its mothers breast, just as the human
baby does, and it is just as carefully
watched and guarded by its parents.
| Although whales grow to enormous
size, sometimes eighty and even ninety
feet long, the throat is so small that
| the animal couldn't swallow bite as
largo as tea biscuit. This applies to
| the common whale; the spermaceti has
mouth large enough to swallow man.
The whalebone that the drcss-makers
and others find SO useful is what may
be called the Jaw of the common whale.
1t has no teeth, and it lives on anima-
cules-little animals-that float in great
numbers on the surface of the water.
| The whalobone is used as O sieve
through which the food is strained.
Therefore the whale that kindly took
Jonah sin out of the wet" must have
been a spermaceti, which has big
throat and jaws with about one hundred
teeth in each.