The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02
THE FRIED BAT"
A R~estauran of the Future and thu
Bat Hunter Who Wishes to Start 1t.

Sh& ~ DA&A -
New York Sun.
One of the queerest characters in Paris
is Matterhorn, the toad hunter and bat
catcher. His faVorite hunting ground is the
great Arcueuil aqueduct, forty. kilometers
long. This is a regular place of refuge for
bats, which hang by thousands on the roof
OF the long tunnel. digging their sharp
claws into its rough outings and looking
for all the world, in the shadows. like fes-
toonS OF bWe There they are, in colo
MES of forty or fifty, cold and still waiting
tern and iron box and catch them between
his ready thumb and f~orefipger. The bats
make slight resistance, being drOwsy with
sleep. and in u night Matterhorn ften CAP
lures a hundred of them or more. He sells
the bats to people who eat them. some from
necessity. some from choice, for those who
have tried II avow that the flesh of the
bat IS delicious. 1t is red and somewhat
fat, and, fried and served with chopped
parsley, it is said TO equal the finest veni-
son in flavor.
why should not one eat bats?" ex-
claimed Matterhorn. The little animal is
scrupulously clean, and feeds on nothing
but insects, which is more than can
be said of many. animals that are
eaten with a relish. l tell you the bat is a
much illuminated creature, although the
tied"
Then / suppose you sell your bats mostly
to those WHIT are very poor?'
Yes, mostly; although there are gour-
NETS who have got beyond popular preju-
dice and pay me a good price per dozen"
But you don't live entirely by catching
bats. do your
,,'oh, no; ! catch all kinds of animals that
prised to know how many kinds of animals
there are TO catch right here in Paris.
Why, the city is full of rabbits, for in
"What-wild rabbits?'
Why. certainly; they burrow all over the
cemeteries. Only last year two poachers
We're caught in the Pere la Chaise Gene
terry, where they were working with guns.
II you please, there was so much game.
They should have stuck to snares. and
the Keepers would never have got them.
In some of the cemeteries there are so
many rabbit holes that the city authorities
have had to take measures TO get rid of the
little animals. We'd save them that trouble
II they'd give US a free hand. Some people
don't like the idea Of eating cemetery rab-
pits, but pshaW! What's the difference
when they're made into a savory stew?
Besides, who knows what a rabbit eats any
'IH tell you something you will wonder
at. I've shot ducks in Paris-wild ducks
on winter nights just as the day was break
ing. When a pinch of bitter weather comes
on they're driven up the Seine as far as the
city. but are frightened away by the peo-
pie in the daytime. And gulls come up the
river, toG-flocks of them-bUt it's queer
they never go farther than the bridge at
the Place de la Concorde, and I have all
ways thought 1t was because they were
afraid of the owls in the ruins of the Cour
des Complies. There are plenty of owls
there all through the year, and starlings
and falcons, and also out near the abaf-
toirs. And there are owls in some of the
old, uninhabited hotels in the Faubourg
Saint Germain. There is one that / have
tried to catch many a time, that is sole
tenant of an abandoned estate, 20 Rue de
Verneuil. That owl has been there for
years, and its cries haunt the neighborhood,
so that children are terrified and old women
make signs of the cross as they hear them y
After this Matterhorn went on to talk
about the green lizards which abound in
Paris and the slowworms to be found al
Montsouris Park and the Buttes-C
and he told how he hunts toads for scien-
tifc men and occasionally hunts rats for
sport. but he does not think much of rat
hunting. Taking it all in all, the bat is
his fayorite quarry, and he said the writer
must come with him out to the acdueduct
some night after the first frost and watch
him fill his box.
Perhaps Wen come across a white bat -
he said. Il haven't found one i'm four or
five years, but they're there. Cunning fell
lows. they are-the white bats. At the first
glimmer of light they start up, and f-r-r-tl
they are gone. There is something I'M
canny about a white bat
Matterhorn remarked that he hoped to be
able to start n restaurant in a few years
which he proposed to call THE Fried Bat j