DR. BATTIUS--THE BAT.
I now come to rather a singular pet. Every one--or rather everychild--has a dog, or a cat, or rabbits, or thrushes; little birds incages are dreadfully common, and so are parrots; so are jackdaws; and,as for ponies and donkeys, what country-house is without them.
But I think that many people have not had a tame bat. It is notgenerally a tempting-looking creature; and I should never have thoughtof taking any trouble to procure one with the intention of petting it.
Our bat put itself into my possession by coming or falling down thechimney of my bed-room.
The room was dark; and I heard a scratching and fluttering in thechimney for some time. Then I heard the flapping of wings about theroom; and thought that a robin or a martin had perhaps fallen into thechimney and had been unable to make its way again to the top.
I got up, and was seeking a match to light my candle, when the littlecreature came against me, and I caught it with both hands spread overit.
I felt directly that it was not a bird; there is something sopeculiarly soft and strange in the feel of a bat; and I was nearlythrowing it down with a sort of disgust.
Second thoughts, which are generally best, came in time to prevent myhurting the poor little creature; and I lighted the candle, and took agood look at my prize.
It was about the size of a small mouse; it kept its wings closelyfolded, and I placed it in a drawer, and shut it up till morning, whenI and my sister had a long inspection of my prize.
I do not know of what variety it was; for there are, I believe, a greatmany different kinds. He had not long ears; his eyes were very smallindeed, though bright.
We had never handled a bat before, and were not soon weary of examininghis curious blackish wings; the little hooks, where his fore-feet,apparently, should have been; his strangely-deformed hind feet; and hismouse-like body and fur.
We wrapped him up and shut him in a basket, and during the day, Icaught a handful of flies, of all sizes, and put them into the basket.
When it grew dusk, we opened the basket, and he soon came out andfluttered about the room for a time; we found that he had eaten all theflies, but not the wings of the larger ones.
When he had been at liberty for some time, we easily caught him again,and shut him up; and when he became a little more used to me, I lefthim out all night, being careful to close the opening into the chimney;and he used to have the range of mine and the adjoining room during thenight.
We tried him with a variety of food. I had fancied that bats ate leavesand fruit; but he never touched anything of that kind. He would eatmeat, preferring raw to cooked; and would drink milk, sucking it up,more than lapping.
He evidently did not like the light; but sometimes would make flightsabout the room when candles were burning; and, occasionally, I took himabout in my jacket pocket in the day-time. If I took him out to showhim to any one in the broad day-light, he never unfolded his wings tofly, but remained quietly in my hand with his wings folded.
We had been reading a book in which one of the characters, a strangeold man, was named Dr. Battius; so we called our bat after him; and Ido think the little creature learnt to know me. He never fluttered ortried to get away from me; and would always let me take hold of himwithout manifesting any fear.
He went several long journeys in my pocket; once I had him with me in alodging by the sea-side, and amused myself much with him. He would siton the table in the evening, lap his milk at my supper-time, and wouldvary his exercise by crawling or progressing along the floor, dartingabout the room, or hanging himself up to something by his hooks, andletting his body swing about.
He cleaned himself carefully, used to rub his nose against the softpart of his wing, or rather his black skin, for it was not much like awing, and would scratch and clean his body with his hind feet.
People used to say, "How can you keep such a repulsive sort of animal?"
But, in fact he was not a dirty creature; he spent as much time rubbingand scraping himself, as any cat would do; and he ate nothing dirty,raw beef and flies being his chief food, with a very little milk.
We had heard and read that bats have some extraordinary way of seeingin the total darkness, or else that their touch is so delicate, thatthey can feel when approaching any wall or hard thing; and it was sowith Dr. Battius, excepting on one occasion--the night when I firstcaught him; then he struck against my chest; so that I secured himeasily, by clasping both hands over him.
But I never after saw him strike against anything; he used to fly aboutmy room at night, and I never heard the least tap against any object;he even would come inside my bed curtains, and fly to and fro; but Icould not detect the slightest sound of touching them.
The black skin that formed his wings was so wonderfully soft to thetouch, that perhaps he felt with that, when the wings were spread out.
I cannot imagine that his crushed-up little eyes could see in the dark;they appeared scarcely good enough to see at all in any light.
This poor little creature lived in my care for many months.
I went to visit some friends who were not fond of any animal in thehouse; and I knew that this dusky little creature would inspiredisgust, if not terror, among some of the party. So, unwillingly, Ileft him at home.
But my sister being away too, the servant, perhaps gave him too muchfood, or he missed his exercise about the room. One morning he wasfound dead in his drawer.
I have no idea whether bats are long-lived animals; or whether theywould, for any time, flourish in solitude. Had I kept the poor littledoctor with me, I might have found out more about him.