Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1915-07-12

l. gust as adept in his efforts to catch in
sects on the wing a. any bird. And, best
.of MI. he catches the night flying insects
while al IT the birds except the night
hawk catches only the insects tEat fin in
the day time. This IN one of the most
mcritoriouS Ut all Nj the good qualities ~
The bat. The moths or many If the most
harmful inserts 90 the grIden fly only 1T
ln.el' y q lc-uif. hud> world have no
chance H. DESTROY them, bui the busy little
bat dartinc hllhcr and tlIther with their
mouths VILE orcr. and with their wing
margins and tail made ifto q t,Etcting net.
destroy thousands Of insects every night.
The bat H. the sworn enemy 81 the ano-
|pholc~ ur malarial mosquito lie ~ the
enemy of I'LL mosquitoes. for that matter,
and they are all pests. hut the anophole
or malarial mosquito i one OF the great
enemies Of human health. This trait alone
should put the little animal IN the good
graceS of the human race. DIR. A.. r.
Campbell AT San Antonio has done some
most interesting work and has written
some highly instructive articles on the re-
latlon IF the bat to The malarial problem.
and IA the municipal bat house at San An
tonic.
The bat selects 4 nice dark place for hi-
home and sleeps all day long. They may
be- found in dense -:ncs, dark aitics, church
~teeples. caves. hollow trees or almost any
other place that : dark enough for them
To sleep in comfort. In the fall OF the year.
when il j. too cool for ths insect to fin.
the bat goc- into winter quarters and
spring Tie hihrrnHtir- lrTied IL not -
long IL tie south. hnt .n the North where
the winters are long and the summers are
short. he sleeps quite a long time.
There are \ number of popular super
%~tition~ regarding the bat that should be
corrected in the minds of the people. 1t
/, commonly believed hat bats bring bed
Lu-~ INTO hoH~c. They are rl~n accused
of hrir. infested win ii -c Soruc people
ur. f,. Eth crtu-h Y. It'n. r that bats en-
t.n-i I'LL n%t~rlv-- IN la.ht- tire -e-. And
~uil ,ti.r~ accI~' lacs, most extremely
-arilarv .utl, ammai~ ~ icing u%nclean.
Not one single one of these indictments l.
wei founded. Bats never carry insects
INTO amy hon~e except those insects that
were IN their -tnmach,. Tie frequently flies
INTO houses ~ feed on the insects ~ the
rooms. The appearance ~ ? bat ~ 2 house
III " reflection nu Tho house and not ~ the
bat. ~. instead M armIng every member
of the family with bruom-. -huvcl~. poker-.
etc. and killing the poor little creature thdi
Il irving to serve humanity, IT would be
well 10 GIVE him y chance to md the house
of bu.~ The idea that they get IN ladic~'
.fr.~-,~ A. most UA:,rl"u~. Tins -uper~ii-
lion must nave arisen from the Tact that
hut- are naturally m~cctiycrou~ and n
tilcv are i,G They eat them with 4 relish
Bnf " xuIId --are the poor little fellow
almost III. lcatl tn find himself rntangled
FIJI Il womau'- hair. Those people who ac-
c.~e the bat Of lcir1 mclcan would do
well Ia see - u ihat They are Just a SAM
'tarv a. the Sat. There IcteI was - human
being more careful about his personal
CLEANLINESS than i a bat about hI~ own. lie
names his toilet regularly and carefully
,"IIr WASHES hi- face with the front part
af hi~ wiug- and then lick- the wa-hrloth
clean: hc scratches the back ~ hi head
with II- hind foot and then lick the foot I:
when hanging head down, ~ will reach one
foot down and scratch behind his ear with
au aplomb truly comical IN such a mite:
But Il j. the most fun OF all 10 sec him clean
his wings. Tie ~cizc- the edges IN his
mouth and stretches and lick the mem
Nbrarc until wr are sure i j. made - silk
elastic. Tor hc pulls and haul~ i ~ ! way
truly amazing.
There IN -iiil another accusation made
against the bat that j. might hc well ~
mention. II ~ still believed IN 4 few peo-
pie that bats are vampires and IT they get
an opportunity will suck the blood from
sleeping children or %grown-up>. There are
two species of bats in Sout hAmcrica that
sometimes attack people sleeping, but the
injury caused j. entirely negligible. Nobody