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Anecdotes of the Bat.

HE bat, = you tray be aware, is
generally massed among quadru-
peds, although it has many of the
habits of birds. It has been call-

ed a bird, however; and I am not suro
but a great majority of people so regard
it. Have you ever read the fable of the
Cat and the Bat? I will translate it for
you. It is one of Perrin’s, and is written
in French. Puss, it seems, got over a
difficulty he had in his mind, by calling a
bat which he had caught a bird, rather
than a mouse, which animal it more nearly
resembles. This is the English of the
fable :

“A cat, having been taken in a trap,
promised a rat, who had liberated him,
that he would never eat any more rats or
mice. It happened one day, however,
that the cat caught a bat in a barn. The
old rogue did not know what to do, at first.
But he soon made up his mind. ‘I dare
not eat thee as a mouse,’ said he, ‘on ac-
count of my promise. But I will eat thee
as a bird.’ With this nice distinction his

 

conscience was satisfied, and he made a
good meal of the poor bat.”

In some parts of Africa, on the coast,
bats are found in such flocks, that when
they fly, they obscure the light of the
setting sun, At the dawn of day, they
are seen sticking upon the tops of the
trees, and clinging to each other, like bees
when they swarm. Europeans, visiting
that country, sometimes amuse themselves
by shooting among these large flocks.

The largest bat in the world is supposed
to be the great bat of Madagascar. It
is nearly four feet broad, when the wings
are spread. Some people have called it
the flying fox. When this bat rests at
night, it sticks itself to the tops of the
tallest trees, and hangs with its head
downward.

A celebrated naturalist once made nu-
merous experiments on the bat, and he
became convinced that these animals pos-
sessed some additional sense, by which
they are enabled to avoid obstacles, when
in motion, even when deprived of sight.