Evening star., 1944-10-14
This and That
Bu Charles E. TraceDell.
ARLINGTON, Va.

DARLINGTON, Va.
Dear Sir:
IT look for This and That every eve
ming when take up The Evening Star.
AS bird and animal lover I find your
articles delightfully."- informative, so I
am writing to ask you how a small
brown bat should be entertained when
he pops out of closet in the depth
of winter.
"It sounded like a mouse Scrambling
around, but we finally located the noise
in a dress box In closet under the
caves When we opened the box he
had folded his wings and was perfectly
still. He had dark brown velvety coat,
a pretty little head with ears like
kitten. - f8SSfIf
"As we watched him he opened wide
very pink mouth. Was that dying
gasp or merely yawn? Was he hungry
or thirsty? On chance I offered him
a drop of water which he swallowed
knew when he had enough No insects
were available, so offered breadcrumbs,
but he was not interested.
WAS he trying to hibernate In that
box or had he squeezed in there to
escape an enemy? I wanted to give him
a chance for freedom, so put the box
on the front porch and left him. A few
minutes later he was gone. 1t was a
mild evening; we hoped he would be
all right.
"a week later the same bat or his
twin brother came out of that closet
and cruised around the room. We
opened window and he gracefully
took Off
do these little bats migrate or hi
bernate in winter? This is the only
time I have seen one in cold weather.
1t was December of last year.
Sincerely, A. M. B."
If people could see bats reclining,
rather than in flight, they no doubt
would lose their fear of the creatures.
There are few mammals more inter-
esting, after ALL
Bats are, really, not much different
from flying squirrels, which latter often
cause enough CONSERVATION, 1t must be
admitted, when they get into a house.
Better bat or flying squirrel strategy
would be to remain quiet and permit the
amazed householder to overcome his
surprise.
AS it is, both of these flying mammals
Immediately move into high gear the
bat flying around the room, the suuir-
rel sailing up and down staircases.
In the excitement, all the killing
ardor of the human being is aroused,
and the first thing the little creatures
know is that they are knocked to the
floor by broom or other weapon. and
Immediately trampled or beaten to
death.
If they would only remain still. their
chances for escape would be much
better, in many cases. Here nature
does not give them quite the right
instinct.
The order of bats is divided into
two suborders, the fruit-eatine bats
of the Old World, shall we say the
warning world; and the insect-eatine
bats, which are found in most lands
A full-grown bat has a wing spread
of about foot, so that it appears
extremely large and black and powerful
when flying indoors, especially when
the background is light wall paper.
They are really not blind, in any
sense, but can fly very capably In day
light when they have to do It. In fact,
the fruit-eating bats like to fly in the
daytime. These have very large eyes
for bats
The seemingly erratic fight of bats
has a purpose, in nature; it is for the
pursuit of insects, notoriously wild
flyers, which dodge from their pursuers.
Most bats will lick milk from the
finger, and will eat many insects, in
cluding crickets, rose -chafers, and lady
bugs, also house flies. They prefer
their food alive and moving.
Scientists declare that bats are
homogeneous and very faithful for the
five years Of adult life, but that II q
mate Is lost, the other teams up with
very young one.
Our correspondents bats probably
were pair, and no doubt they man
aged to ind shelter and remain semi
4 dormant for the remainder Of the
winter.