ething upon that subject himself, when he gets into
conversation with Brush, who has just informed us that "old Leatherwing
_will_ talk a great deal about his own affairs."

Almost every person, whether living in the town or country, must often
have observed the bat flitting about trees and houses in a calm summer
evening, but many have never taken the trouble to examine him more
closely, or have not had an opportunity of doing so. To form a proper
idea of the structure of the bat's wings you must understand, that his
fore-legs, or his _arms_, as I will call them, are almost as long as
his body, and that all the four fingers of his hands are _quite as
long as his arms_. Between these immensely long and slender fingers,
is stretched, (like the silk on the framework of an umbrella,) a very
thin elastic skin, or membrane,[4] which is continued from the tips of
the little fingers to the ankles of the hind-legs, and then very nearly
to the end of the tail, which is almost as long as his body. So that
the animal, when spread out in the flying position, is entirely
surrounded with the membrane, except at the head and neck. The toes of
the hind-foot, and the thumb of the hand, are not attached to the skin,
and are not longer than those of other animals. These are furnished
with sharp and hooked claws, so that the bat can cling very firmly to
walls and perpendicular rocks.

[4] The membrane of the bat's wing appears to possess a most
exquisite and inconceivable sensibility. Cruel experiments have
proved that this animal, when deprived of the senses of seeing,
hearing, and smelling, will still fly about a room, without ever
coming into contact with the walls, or with threads stretched
across in all directions. Cuvier supposes, that "the propinquity
of solid bodies is perceived by the manner in which the air
re-acts upon the surface of the wings." This astonishing faculty,
which almost indicates the possession of a sixth sense unknown to
us, is no doubt of great use to the bat, as it enables him to
pursue his rapid zigzag flight in the dark, without fear of
striking against the boughs of trees, or other obstacles.

The animal introduced in the tale is the common bat, _Vespertilio
pipistrellus_ of modern naturalists. It is now ascertained that
no less than seventeen species of this singular family are
natives of this country. Some of t