berg and Buffon take notice that the rein loses his horns at the approach of winter, yet other naturalifts have fuppofed that they were of ufe in removing the fnow which covers the lichen they are faid to be fo fond of, and which is utterly inconfiftent with this quadruped being deprived of them during the winter. Leemius indeed exprefsly informs us, that they procure the lichen by means of their feet.

As I have very frequently vifited Mr. Heyde's rein, I fhall now mention fome few particulars I happened to obferve myself with regard to this quadruped, which is fo feldom to be feen to the fouthward of the Baltic.

:

This animal was kept in a clofe of about an acre, the grafs of which was rich; and he conftantly fed upon it during the whole year, though he was much fonder of the lichen, which was fent over from Norway by holding a little of it in my hand, I could at any time bring him to me. No animal, indeed, could be better humoured, as he would even permit his antlers to be handled when the blood veffels were moft turgid. He likewife permitted me to measure his height, which was three feet two inches and a half, being in his fixth year, and of full growth. Now Leemius obferves, that the doe is not fo large as the buck; and I have measured the fpecimen of a doe-rein, lately fent to the Royal Society from Hudfon's-bay, which is about three feet in height. I ftate this comparison, because it makes me doubt with regard to the juftnefs of an observation of M. de Buffon, who (in his article Rein-deer) fuppofes that all Ame

rican animals are lefs than the fame fpecies in other parts of the globe. Mr. Pennant alfo takes notice, that the American elk is larger than the European.

I once faw this rein in Mr. Heyde's garden, where there was a confiderable variety of flowering fhrubs and forest-trees, all of which he browzed upon except the elder; he alfo drank a great deal of water out of a pond.

I have therefore little doubt but that this quadruped will live without the Lapland lichen, to which it only hath, perhaps, recourse, because there is in thofe latitudes no other fuftenance during the winter.

I have, indeed, procured fome of this lichen, which I have tafted, and conceive from thence it may be a nourishing food either to man or beaft; it is, however, by no means peculiar to Lapland, as we have much of the fame on our own heaths. In one refpect, indeed, the rein fares better in England than in Lapland, as Hoffberg and all other naturalists fpeak much of its fuffering from an infeet, which they term the Oeftrus Tarandi. We have, perhaps, the fame gad-fly in England, but they are not fo numerous, and Mr. Heyde's rein did not feem to feel much inconvenience from this perfecution.

Le Brun obferves, that the rein carries his head fo high, that the horns touch the back; and it is not therefore improbable that thefe antlers may be given them as a means of removing these very troublefome infects.

The fame traveller takes notice, that the chiefs of the Samoieds have fometimes fix or eight of

them

them to draw their traineaus, and that they never fweat, notwithftanding their being often much preffed, but pant with their tongues out, juft as grey-hounds do after a fevere course.

Leemius alfo informs us, that after being hard driven they lofe their fight frequently for three or four days.

I have before obferved, that Mr. Heyde's buck rein was very good humoured; poffibly, how. ever, if he had been harneffed, I should not have found him fo tractable, for on account of its greater docility, a gelt rein bears a much better price in Lapland; and another caufe for the advanced value is, that the operation being performed but aukwardly, the owners frequently lofe them: for the fame reafon the poorer Laplanders only harnefs the doe.

other friend or ally, and they muft naturally be dreaded by moths or other infects of the night, as much as hawks are the terror of our fmaller birds; nature is one perpetual fcene of warfare, for the fake of food, and bats again become the prey of owls.

A friend of mine kept one for ten days, and was much amufed with its manner of taking flies, on which it chiefly lived: Linnæus hath claffed it with his primates, at the head of which stands Man: a more natural arrangement, perhaps, might have exalted this animal to the order of angels, as they are depicted with wings as well as teats.

I never met with any one who had tafted a bat: and, indeed, with us they are fo diminutive, that the morfel' fhould be as delicate as it is small. In the island of Mauritius, however, where they are very large, the feamen

TH

HE bat is fo difagreeable an animal, that we are generally defirous of avoiding it rather than examining into its habits; the confequence of which averfion is, that we are more ignorant with regard to its natural history, than perhaps of any other animal of the fame fize.

Hideous as it may appear to our eye, yet if we are to believe Johnfon (who is a writer of merit) there is a perpetual alliance between them and pigeons, infomuch, that if the head of a bat is fixed upon the top of a pigeonhoufe, the pigeons will never leave it. I profefs, however, that I cannot hear this animal hath any

are innumerable, and fome as large as gofhawks, and the feamen cafe them as rabbits; they hang in fwarms on the boughs of the trees, by claws fixed at the extreme part of their wings, and their monkey faces turned downwards." In the time of falconry they were given to hawks as a remedy for the falling fickness.

From its likeness to a mouse, the fynonym is formed in many languages, the French terming it chauve Jauris and ratpennade. The Dutch, Vleermuys. The Germans, Fleder-maufch. The Danes, Flaggermuus. The Swedes, Flader-mus. The Spaniards, Mur-cielago. As for our modern name of Bat, I do not know whence we apply it to this animal,

but

but it was anciently called reremouse, from the Anglo Saxon hnenemur. Our blafoners alfo ufe this word. In the Greek and Latin, however, the name is taken from its appearing only during the night UT & vefpertilio. "Seroque trahunt a vefpere nomen." Ov.

Different fpecies, or varieties of bats, are found in moft quarters both of the old and new world; but for an enumeration of these I fhall refer to Mr. Pennant's most excellent Synopfis of Quadrupeds, and after obferving, that fome of those in America are fuppofed to fuck the blood of perfons afleep, I fhall confine myself to thofe of our own ifland.

That moft able naturalift Mr. Ray takes notice of but one fpecies, though Mr. Pennant conceives that we have four. Nothing can exceed both the diligence and accuracy of Ray, but the common averfion to thefe animals feems to have prevented both him and others from either catching or examining many species.

Having but two teats, it is fuppofed that they never produce more than two young ones, which, according to Pliny, they fly about with on their back.

If this is true at all. I fhould fuppofe that it only takes place when the young are to be taught to fly, as they may be more eafily launched from their parent's back into the air, than from any other place. They cannot rife at all from the ground, according to Linnæus; and in this fituation therefore they seem divefted of every pretenfion to be deemed birds, if their being viviparous, and having no beaks, did not fuf

ficiently exclude them, as well as their want of feathers. As to their having wings, a flying fish, or the flying fquirrel, might for the fame reafon be confidered as birds.

But the most interefting part in relation to this animal, is its ftate of torpidity during the winter, to which it is induced probably from want of flying-infects for its food, as feems to be the cafe with the fwallow tribe.

In this part of the natural hiftory of this animal, I am much indebted to the communication of a moft ingenious correfpondent, who knows where to find them torpid at any time during the winter, and more particularly in a large cavern near Torbay.

The prevailing notion that they hang always in clusters touching each other is not true, as this depends entirely upon their having a proper opportunity of adhering to the place from which they are fufpended; they fometimes, therefore, are in contact, and often at confiderable distances, but always fix themfelves by both their feet.

Martial fays of the dormoufe, that it is fatter during its state of torpidity than when it revives. I therefore begged to know from Mr. Cornifh, whether this was the cafe with bats during the winter, who informs me that the fact does not hold with regard to the one or the other, and that bats mute whilft they are thus fufpended. Both dormice and bats lofe from five to feven grains in weight during a fortnight, whilft in a ftate of torpidity.

Bats on the whole fare better during a hard than a mild winter, for warm weathernot only awakens

them,

them, but promotes their power of digeftion, whilft at the fame time they cannot procure the food of which they are in fearch. This holds likewife with regard to bees, which are better preferved in a dark room than if expofed to the air whilft torpid, becaufe fometimes they are awakened by the mild temperature of the weather, when there are no flowers for their fupport.

As bats mute whilft torpid, there is also a circulation of the blood, for Mr. Cornifh having applied a thermometer to the body of one perfectly afleep, which food at 36, the heart beat 60 times in a minute; the fame bat being awakened fo as to fly weakly, the thermometer applied in the fame manner rofe to 38, and the heart beat 100 times in a minute.

They have been, however, obferved to continue in their torpid state when the thermometer, placed in the air, hath been at 48, which is ten degrees warmer than the animal when awakened according to this experiment.

Moft of the bats roused by irritation have not furvived more than three days, but then it is ftated that the weather became colder. Frequent attempts have been made to revive them after this feeming death, but they have all proved ineffectual.

Having defired Mr. Cornish to make fome experiments with an air-pump on torpid bats, he informs me that his apparatus for that purpofe is not fo good as it fhould be, but that he is of opinion, from fome imperfect trials, that they are not fo foon affected by want of air, as other animals,

which do not fleep during the winter.

That diftinguished anatomift Mr. John Hunter, having occa fion to diffect bats during the winter, applied to me to procure him fome from Devonshire, knowing that I had a correfpondence with Mr. Cornish, who could at any time refort to their lurking places.

I accordingly requested Mr. Cornish to fend up a dozen of bats in their fate of torpidity, which he was so obliging as to do by the next conveyance; but though he had packed them with the greatest care, they died, as Mr. Cornifh apprehended, before they reached London. The motion of the carriage probably occafioned this difappointment, as alfo that they did not hang in their ufual attitude, nor in the proper temperature of air. If they had continued to live, Mr. Cornith informed me, that though one could perceive no motion in them, yet if placed in contact with a proper crevice, they would however fix themfeives by their claws.

These bats were kept for fome time by Mr. Hunter before he would abfolutely pronounce them to be dead, and afterwards, at Sir Afhton Lever's, before they were fet up; but though they never fhewed any figns of life, yet their bodies did not putrify. The fame thing I had occafion to obferve with regard to fome torpid martins which were fent to me from Somersetshire, and which I wished Mr. Hunter to diffect. Thefe birds alfo did not revive, but no figns of putrefaction appeared, though they were kept a confiderable time.

And

On the Torpidity of the SwallowTribe when they disappear. From the fame Author.

N the foregoing treatise upon the migration of birds, the appearance and difappearance of the fwallow-tribe hath neceffarily been touched upon; but I think it better to referve, for a feparate differtation, what more particularly relates to their being during the winter in a state of torpidity.

I have for many years attended carefully to the motions of thefe birds from the latter end of March to the latter end of April, at which time I have travelled into, or returned from, North Wales.

For the last twelve years the fpring feafons in that part of Great Britain have been generally dry, the eaft winds prevailing during the month of April.

The confequence hath been, that on my journey towards Wales, or upon my arrival in the principality, I have perhaps feen a ftraggling fwallow or fwallows; but upon the weather growing more fevere, they have difappeared perhaps for a fortnight or VOL. XXIV.

more, fo that I never have been able to procure any, though I have fent people out with guns to fhoot them. My inducement was to examine them upon their first appearance, and to fee in what plight they might be, both as to cafe and plumage; as alfo what they might feed upon before many winged infects are to be found.

Upon my return towards London I have commonly feen five or fix skimming over the river Clwyd, near the gate of the town of Ruthin, which is called Porthydwr.

After this, it hath commonly happened, that I have not obferved any of this tribe of birds but at the distance of 20, 30, or 40 miles, and this always depending upon the approach to rivers or ponds, so that I could be tolerably certain where I might expect to obferve them.

Thefe circumftances feem to me very decifive, that swallows are concealed near the place where they begin to appear; and on first confideration of these facts it may be perhaps inferred, that thefe birds are all to be found under the water; it must however be recollected, that they probably procure more food in fuch fituations when on the wing, whatever may have been their winter refidence. By the latter end of April the fwallow-tribe appears in numbers.

I fhall now ftate fuch facts as I have myself observed, or received from ingenious correfpondents, in relation to each fpecies of fwallow, and without hesitation make my own inferences, leaving them to be corrected by those who may be more fortunate in collecting more decifive inftances.