The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1891-04-24
TWO QUEER CREATURES.
Habits and PecaIiaritI-s of the Bat anS
the Whale.

Habits and PecuIiaritI-s of the Bat and
the Whale.
Only one species of featherless ami
~maI tEat can fly exists in all the world,
and il is one that you probably have
often seen. Properly speaking it has no
wings, nevertheless its flying appur-
tenance is more nearly perfect than
that OF any bird. Ii flies with wonder
full rapidity, darts about with such
quickness that il is difficult for the eye
TO follow IL, and its sense of touch and
smell are something marvellous.
In watching its rapid and eccentric
flight in the twilight you have. no doubt
thought that this strange animal isa bird.
But its bird-like appearance ends with
its ability TO fly. Its young are born and
nurtured just as are puppies and kittens.
This strange flying animal is the bat,
saws 4 writer in the Philadelphia Times.
In one OF -Esop's fables il is related that
the beasts and the birds once engaged
in battle, and the bat lowered above,
changing from one side To the other, as
the chances of victory changed. For
this treachery the bat was doomed 70
the queer life he now leads, that Of an
apparent bird. but a real mammalian ami
NAL.
The structure of the bat is very pecul-
lar An eminent naturalist says: ''If
the fingers of man were TO be drawn
out like wire TO about four feet in
length. a thin membrane 10 extend from
finger TO finger. and another membrane
10 fall from the little finger 70 the
ankles, he would make very tOlerable
bat" Yes. the whole skeleton of the
bat is very similar TO that of man. with
the exception of the great elongation
of what we may call the arms and
hands.
When you see the bat darting about in
the evening he is taking his supper. He
lives as the swallow does, on insects in
the air. and. although his sight is very
poor, his touch and smell are SO sensi-
tive that ne 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. He
doesn't need to. lie seeks well shell
tered nook, where he is not likely TO be
disturbed, and quietly takes a nap till
next spring.
Somewhat analogous to the bat. the
mammalian of the air, is the whale, the
mammalian of the sea. The whale is no
more a fish than the bat is a bird. Its
young are born like the kittens and the
puppies, but only one at time. The
young whale takes its 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
large as a tea biscuit. This applies TO
the common whale; the spermaceti has
mouth large enough to swallow man.
The whalebone that the dress-makers
and others find so useful is what may
bc called the jaw of the common whale.
It has no teeth. and it lives on anima-
cules-little animals-that float IL great
numbers on the surface of the water.
The whalebone is used as a sieve
through which the food is strained.
Therefore the whale that kindly took
Jonah in out Of the wet" must have
been a spcrmaccti. which has a big
throat and jaws with about one hundred
teeth in each.