Curiosities of Bats
Plecotus illustrated by Charles Dessalines D' Orbigny (1806-1876).
By
John Timbs
An excerpt from
ECCENTRICITIES OF THE ANIMAL CREATION
1869
Introduction
John Timbs’ "Eccentricities of the Animal Creation" is a fascinating exploration of the peculiar, curious, and lesser-known behaviors and traits of animals, reflecting Victorian-era fascination with natural wonders. Timbs, a prolific writer and antiquarian, compiled anecdotes and observations about unusual animals, blending scientific facts with folklore and storytelling. His engaging prose captures the eccentricities of creatures both real and legendary, from strange survival adaptations to behaviors that defy human expectations. The book embodies the spirit of 19th-century natural history writing, which sought to entertain as well as educate, catering to a public eager for knowledge about the natural world’s oddities. Timbs’ work not only highlights the diversity and marvels of animal life but also reflects the period’s blend of scientific inquiry and popular fascination with the exotic and bizarre.
Curiosities of Bats
These harmless and interesting little animals have not only furnished objects of superstitious dread to the ignorant, but have proved to the poet and the painter a fertile source of images of gloom and terror. The strange combination of character of beast and bird, which they were believed to possess, is supposed to have given to Virgil the idea of the Harpies.
Aristotle says but little about the Bat; and Pliny is considered to have placed it among the Birds, none of which, he observes, with the exception of the Bat, have teeth. Again, he notices it as the only winged animal that suckles its young, and remarks on its embracing its two little ones, and flying about with them. In this arrangement he was followed by the older of the more modern naturalists. Belon, doubtingly, places it at the end of the Night-birds; and the Bat, Attaleph (bird of darkness), was one of the unclean animals of the Hebrews; and in Deuteronomy xxv. 18, it is placed among the forbidden birds.
Even up to a late period Bats were considered as forming a link between quadrupeds and birds. The common language of our own ancestors, however, indicates a much nearer approach to the truth in the notions entertained by the people than can be found in the lucubrations of the learned. The words rere-mouse and flitter-mouse, the old English names for the Bat—the former derived from the Anglo-Saxon "aræan," to raise, or rear up, and mus; the latter from the Belgic, signifying "flying or flittering mouse,"—show that in their minds these animals were always associated with the idea of quadrupeds. The first of these terms is still used in English heraldry; though it may have ceased to belong to the language of the country. "The word flitter-mouse," says Mr. Bell, "sometimes corrupted into flintymouse, is the common term for the Bat in some parts of the kingdom, particularly in that part of the county of Kent in which the language, as well as the aspect and names of the inhabitants, retain more of the Saxon character than will be found, perhaps, in any other part of England.
Ben Jonson has—
"Once a Bat, and ever a Bat! a rere-mouse,
And bird o'twilight, he has broken thrice.
. . .
Come, I will see the flicker-mouse, my fly."
Play.—New Inn.
The same author uses flitter-mouse also:—
"And giddy flitter-mice, with leather wings."
Sad Shepherd.
Calmet describes the Bat as an animal having the body of a mouse and the wings of a bird; but he erroneously adds, "It never grows tame."
Some persons are surprised at Bats being classed by naturalists, not with birds, but quadrupeds. They have, in fact, no other claim to be considered as birds than that of their being able to suspend and move themselves in the air, like some species of fish, but to a greater degree. They suckle their young, are covered with hair, and have no wings, but arms and lengthened fingers or toes furnished with a membrane, by which they are enabled to fly.
Sir Charles Bell, in his valuable treatise on the "Hand," considers the skeleton of the Bat as one of the best examples of the moulding of the bones of the extremity to correspond with the condition of the animal. Contemplating this extraordinary application of the bones of the extremity, and comparing them with those of the wing of a bird, we might say that this is an awkward attempt—"a failure." But, before giving expression to such an opinion, we must understand the objects required in this construction. It is not a wing intended merely for flight, but one which, while it raises the animal, is capable of receiving a new sensation, or sensations, in that exquisite degree, so as almost to constitute a new sense. On the fine web of the Bat's wing nerves are distributed, which enable it to avoid objects in its flight during the night, when both eyes and ears fail. Could the wing of a bird, covered with feathers, do this? Here, then, we have another example of the necessity of taking every circumstance into consideration before we presume to criticise the ways of nature. It is a lesson of humility. In this animal the bones are light and delicate; and whilst they are all marvellously extended, the phalanges of the fingers are elongated so as hardly to be recognised, obviously for the purpose of sustaining a membranous web, and to form a wing.
In 1839 there was received at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, from Sumatra, a specimen of the Vampire Bat. This was a young male; the body was black, and the membranous wing, in appearance, resembled fine black kid. He was rarely seen at the bottom of his cage, but suspended himself from the roof or bars of the cage, head downwards, his wings wrapped round his body; when spread, these wings extended nearly two feet. Although this specimen was the Vampire Bat to which so many bloodthirsty feats have been attributed, his appearance was by no means ferocious; he was active, yet docile, and the only peculiarity to favour belief in his blood-sucking propensity was his long pointed tongue. The species has popularly been accused of destroying, not only the large mammiferous animals, but also men, when asleep, by sucking their blood. "The truth," says Cuvier, in his "Regne Animal," "appears to be, that the Vampire inflicts only small wounds, which may, probably, become inflammatory and gangrenous from the influence of climate." In this habit, however, may have originated the celebrated Vampire superstition. Lord Byron, in his beautiful poem of "The Giaour," thus symbolises the tortures that await the "false infidel:"—
"First, on earth as Vampire sent,
My corse shall from its tomb be rent;
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
There, from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse.
Thy victims, ere they yet expire,
Shall know the demon for their sire,
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem.
But one that for thy crime must fall,
The youngest, most beloved of all,
Shall bless thee with a father's name—
That word shall wrap thy heart in flame!
Yet must thou end thy task, and mark
Her cheek's last tinge, her eye's last spark,
And the last glassy glance must view
Which freezes o'er its lifeless blue;
Then with unhallowed hand shall tear
The tresses of her yellow hair,
Of which in life a lock, when shorn,
Affection's fondest pledge was worn,
But now is borne away by thee,
Memorial of thine agony!
Wet with thine one best blood shall drip
Thy gnashing tooth and haggard lip;
Then stalking to thy sullen grave,
Go, and with Gouls and Afrits rave;
Till there in horror shrink away
From spectre more accursed than they!"
In a note, the noble poet tells us:—"The Vampire superstition is still general in the Levant." Honest Tournefort tells a long story, which Mr. Southey, in the notes on "Thalaba," quotes, about these Vardoulacha, as he calls them. "I recollect a whole family being terrified by the screams of a child, which they imagined must proceed from such a visitation. The Greeks never mention the word without horror."
Bishop Heber describes the Vampire Bat of India as a very harmless creature, entirely different from the formidable idea entertained of it in England. "It only eats fruit and vegetables; indeed, its teeth are not indicative of carnivorous habits; and from blood it turns away when offered to it. During the daytime it is, of course, inert; but at night it is lively, affectionate, and playful, knows its keeper, but has no objection to the approach and touch of others."
Mr. Westerton, the traveller, when speaking, in his "Wanderings," of the Vampire of South America, says:—"There are two species in Demerara, both of which suck living animals; one is rather larger than the common Bats, the other measures above two feet from wing to wing, extended. So gently does this nocturnal surgeon draw the blood, that instead of being roused, the patient is lulled into a profound sleep." The large Vampire sucks men, commonly attacking the toes; the smaller seems to confine itself chiefly to birds.
Captain Stedman, who states that he was bitten by a Bat, thus describes the operation:—"Knowing by instinct that the person they intend to attack is in a sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, where, while the creature continues fanning with its enormous wings, which keeps one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small indeed that the head of a pin would scarcely be received into the wound, which is, consequently, not painful; yet through this orifice he continues to suck the blood until he is obliged to disgorge. He then begins again, and thus continues sucking and disgorging until he is scarcely able to fly; and the sufferer has been often known to sleep from time into eternity. Having applied tobacco-ashes as the best remedy, and washed the gore from myself and my hammock, I observed several small heaps of congealed blood all round the place where I had lain upon the ground, on examining which the surgeon judged that I had lost at least twelve or fourteen ounces during the night."
Lesson, in 1827, says:—"The single American species of Bat is celebrated by the fables with which they have accompanied its history. That Bats suck the blood of animals as well as the juices of succulent fruits zoologists are agreed. The rough tongue of one genus was, I suppose, to be employed for abrading the skin, to enable the animal to suck the part abraded; but zoologists are now agreed that the supposition is groundless. It is more than probable that the celebrated Vampire superstition and the blood-sucking qualities attributed to the Bat have some connection with each other."
Bat-fowling is mentioned by Shakspeare. This is the mode of taking Bats in the night-time, while they are at roost, upon perches, trees, or hedges. They light torches or straw, and then beat the bushes, upon which the Bats, flying to the flames, are caught, either with nets or otherwise.
Bat-fowling, or Bat-folding, is effected by the use of a net, called a trammel-net, and is practised at night. The net should be made of the strongest and finest twine, and extended between two poles about ten feet high, tapering to a point at the top, and meeting at the top of the net. The larger ends are to be held by the persons who take the management of the net, and who, by stretching out the arms, keep the net extended to the utmost, opposite the hedge in which the Bats or birds are supposed to be. Another of the party carries a lantern upon a pole at a short distance behind the centre of the net. One or two others place themselves on the opposite side of the hedge, and by beating it with sticks disturb the Bats or birds, which, being alarmed, fly towards the light, but are interrupted in their flight by the net which is immediately folded upon them, often fifteen or twenty in number. This sport cannot be followed with much success except when the night is very dark, or until very late in the autumn, when the trees, having lost their leaves, the Bats or birds are driven for shelter to the hollies, yews, hayricks, &c.
We remember reading, in the "Philosophical Magazine," in 1836, a curious account of the habits of a long-eared Bat, a living specimen of which was given to the children of Mr. De Carle Sowerby, the naturalist. "We constructed," says Mr. Sowerby, "a cage for him, by covering a box with gauze, and making a round hole in the side, fitted with a phial cork. When he was awake, we fed him with flies, introduced through this hole, and thus kept him for several weeks. The animal soon became familiar, and immediately a fly was presented alive at the hole, he would run or fly from any part of the cage, and seize it in our fingers; but a dead or quiet fly he would never touch. At other times, dozens of flies and grasshoppers were left in his cage, and, waking him by their noise, he dexterously caught them as they hopped or flew about, but uniformly disregarded them while they were at rest. The cockroach, hard beetles, and caterpillars he refused.
"As we became still more familiar, our new friend was invited to join in our evening amusements, to which he contributed his full share by flitting round the room, at times settling upon our persons, and permitting us to handle and caress him. He announced his being awake by a shrill chirp, which was more acute than that of the cricket. Now was the proper time for feeding him. I before stated that he only took his food alive. It was observed that not only was motion necessary, but that generally some noise on the part of the fly was required to induce him to accept it; and this fact was soon discovered by the children, who were entertained by his taking flies from their fingers as he flew by them, before he was bold enough to settle upon their hands to devour his victims. They quickly improved upon this discovery, and, by imitating the booming of a bee, induced the Bat, directed by the sound, to settle upon their faces, wrapping his wings round their lips, and searching for the expected fly. We observed that, if he took a fly while on the wing, he frequently settled to masticate it; and, when he had been flying about a long time, he would rest upon a curtain, pricking his ears, and turning his head in all directions, when, if a fly were made to buzz, or the sound imitated, he would proceed directly to the spot, even on the opposite side of the room, guided, it would appear, entirely by the ear. Sometimes he took his victim in his mouth, even though it was not flying; at other times he inclosed it in his wings, with which he formed a kind of bag-net. This was his general plan when in his cage, or when the fly was held in our fingers, or between our lips."
From these observations Mr. Sowerby concludes that many of the movements of the Bat upon the wing are directed by his exquisite sense of hearing. May not the sensibility of this organ be naturally greater in these animals, whose organs of vision are too susceptible to bear daylight, when those organs, from their nature, would necessarily be of most service?—such as the cat, who hunts by the ear, and the mole, who, feeding in the dark recesses of his subterranean abode, is very sensible of the approach of danger, and expert in avoiding it. In the latter case, large external ears are not required, because sound is well conveyed by solids, and along narrow cavities. In the cases of many Bats, and of owls, the external ears are remarkably developed. Cats combine a quickness of sight with acute hearing. They hunt by the ear, but they follow their prey by the eye. Some Bats are said to feed upon fruits: have they the same delicacy of hearing, feeling, &c., as others?
Mr. Sowerby has further described the singular mode adopted by the long-eared Bat in capturing his prey. The flying apparatus is extended from the hind legs to the tail, forming a large bag or net, not unlike two segments of an umbrella, the legs and tail being the ribs. The Bat, having caught the fly, instead of eating it at once, generally covers it with his body, and, by the aid of his arms, &c., forces it into his bag. He then puts his head down under his body, withdraws the fly from his bag, and leisurely devours it. Mr. Sowerby once saw an unwary bluebottle walk beneath the body of the apparently sleeping Bat into the sensitive bag, in which it was immediately imprisoned. White, of Selborne, speaking of a tame Bat, alludes to the above described action, which he compares to that of a beast of prey, but says nothing respecting the bag. Bell, in his "British Quadrupeds," says that the interfemoral membrane of Bats "is probably intended to act as a sort of rudder, in rapidly changing the course of the animal in the pursuit of its insect food. In a large group of foreign Bats, which feed on fruit or other vegetable substances, as well as in some of carnivorous habits, but whose prey is of a less active character, this part is either wholly wanting or much circumscribed in extent and power." May it not be, asks Mr. Sowerby, that they do not require an entomological bag-net?
The wing of the Bat is commonly spoken of as of leather; that it is an insensible piece of stuff—the leather of a glove or of a lady's shoe; but nothing can be further from the truth. If one were to select an organ of the most exquisite delicacy and sensibility, it would be the Bat's wing. It is anything but leather, and is, perhaps, the most acute organ of touch that can be found.
Bats are supposed to perceive external objects without coming actually in contact with them, because in their rapid and irregular flight, amidst various surrounding bodies, they never fly against them; yet, to some naturalists, it does not appear that the senses of hearing, seeing, or smelling serve them on these occasions, for they avoid any obstacles with equal certainty when the eye, ear, and nose are closed: hence has been ascribed a sixth sense to these animals. The nerves of the wing are large and numerous, and distributed in a minute network between the integuments. The impulse of the air against this part may possibly be so modified by the objects near which the animal passes as to indicate their situation and nature. The Bat tribe fly by means of the fingers of the fore feet, the thumb excepted, being, in these animals, longer than the whole body; and between them is stretched a thin membrane, or web, for flying. It is probable that, in the action of flight, the air, when struck by this wing, or very sensitive hand, impresses a sensation of heat, cold, mobility, and resistance on that organ, which indicates to the animal the existence or absence of obstacles which would interrupt its progress. In this manner blind men discover by their hands, and even by the skin of their faces, the proximity of a wall, door of a house, or side of a street, even without the assistance of touch, and merely by the sensation which the difference in the resistance of the air occasions. Hence they are as little capable of walking on the ground as apes with their hands, or sloths with their hooked claws, which are calculated for climbing.
In a certain kind of Bat, the Nycteris, there exists a power of inflation to such a degree that, when inflated, the animal looks, according to Geoffroy St. Hilaire, like a little balloon fitted with wings, a head, and feet. It is filled with air through the cheek-pouches, which are perforated at the bottom, so as to communicate with the spaces of the skin to be filled. When the Bat wishes to inflate, it draws in its breath, closes its nostrils, and transmits the air through the perforations of the cheek-pouches to the spaces; and the air is prevented from returning by the action of a muscle which closes those openings, and by valves of considerable size on the neck and back.
There was formerly a vulgar opinion that Bats, when down on a flat surface, could not get on the wing again, by rising with great ease from the floor; but White saw a Bat run, with more dispatch than he was aware of, though in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner. The adroitness with which this Bat sheared off the wings of flies, which were always rejected, was very amusing. He did not refuse raw flesh when offered; so that the notion that Bats go down chimneys, and gnaw men's bacon, seems no improbable story.
Mr. George Daniell describes a female Bat, who took her food with an action similar to that of a dog. The animal took considerable pains in cleaning herself, parting the hair on either side, from head to tail, and forming a straight line along the middle of the back. The membrane of the wings was cleaned by forcing the nose through the folds, and thereby expanding them. This Bat fed freely, and at some times voraciously, the quantity exceeding half an ounce, although the weight of the animal itself was not more than ten drams.
The Kalong Bat of the Javanese is extremely abundant in the lower parts of Java, and uniformly lives in society. The more elevated districts are not visited by it. "Numerous individuals," says Dr. Hornfield, "select a large tree, and, suspending themselves with the claws of their posterior extremities to the naked branches, often in companies of several hundreds, afford to a stranger a very singular spectacle. A species of ficus (fig-tree), resembling the ficus religiosa of India, affords them a very favourite retreat, and the extended branches of one of these are sometimes covered by them. They pass the greater portion of the day in sleep, hanging motionless, ranged in succession, with the head downwards, the membrane contracted about the body, and often in close contact. They have little resemblance to living beings; and, by a person not accustomed to their economy, are readily mistaken for a part of the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from its branches."
In general, these societies are silent during the day; but if they are disturbed, or a contention arises among them, they emit sharp, piercing shrieks; and their awkward attempts to extricate themselves, when oppressed by the light of the sun, exhibit a ludicrous spectacle. Soon after sunset they gradually quit their hold, and pursue their nocturnal flight in quest of food. They direct their course by an unerring instinct to the forests, villages, and plantations, attacking and devouring every kind of fruit, from the abundant and useful cocoa-nut, which surrounds the dwellings of the meanest peasantry, to the rare and most delicate productions which are cultivated by princes and chiefs of distinction. Various methods are employed to protect the orchards and gardens. Delicate fruits are secured by a loose net or basket, skilfully constructed of split bamboo, without which precaution little valuable fruit would escape the ravages of the Kalong. There are few situations in the lower part of Java in which this night wanderer is not constantly observed. As soon as the light of the sun has retired, one animal is seen to follow the other at a small but irregular distance, and this accession continues uninterrupted till dark:—
"The night came on apace,
And falling dews bewet around the place;
The bat takes airy rounds, on leathern wings,
And the hoarse owl his woful dirges sings."
"Gay's "Pastoral III."
Bats of the ordinary size are very numerous in Jamaica. They are found in mills and old houses. They do great mischief in gardens, where they eat the green peas, opening the pod over each pea, and removing it very dexterously.
Gilbert White, of Selborne, first noticed a large species of Bat, which he named altivolans, from its manner of feeding high in the air. In the extent of its wings it measured 14-1/2 inches; and it weighed, when entirely full, one ounce and one drachm. It is found in numbers together, so many as 185 having been taken in one night from the eaves of Queens' College, Cambridge. In the Northern Zoological Gallery of the British Museum are representatives of the several species of Bats, all bearing a family resemblance to each other. In England alone there are eighteen known species. Here is the curious leaf-nosed Bat, from Brazil, supposed to excel in the sense of smell; also, the Vampire, or large blood-sucking Bat, from the same country; and the different kinds of fruit-eating Bats, found in America and Australia, and sometimes called flying foxes, on account of their great size. The Bats of temperate climates remain torpid during the winter. Gay has these lines:—
"Where swallows in the winter season keep;
And here the drowsy bat and dormouse sleep."
Young Bats have been taken, when hovering near the ground, by throwing handfuls of sand, but they rarely live in confinement: they often die within a week after their capture. A Bat, taken in Elgin, gave birth to a young one, which was for two days suckled by its parent. Before she reached the age of three days the young bat died, and the parent only survived another day to mourn her loss. Sometimes females, when taken, have young ones clinging to their breast, in the act of sucking; and the female can fly with ease, though two little ones are attached to her, which weigh nearly as much as the parent.
To return to an exaggeration of a famous old traveller. In "Purchas his Pilgrimage," the materials for which he borrowed from above thirteen hundred authors, when speaking of the island of Madura, in the South of India, he says:—"In these partes are Battes as big as Hennes, which the people roast and eat."