BAT, an unclean Bird, that is a composition of a bird and a mouse, having the body of a mouse and the wings of a bird; not with feathers, but with a sort of skin, which is extended, and makes wings, such as this creature uses in flying. It produces its little ones alive, and suckles them after the manner of the four-footed animals; and does not like birds, lay its eggs only. The Hebrew term Hatalaph, which expositors commonly interpret, Bat, signifies a Swallow, according to the Rabbins. There is a sort of Bat in the East, that is larger than ordinary, and is salted and eaten.
The Bat never grows tame, feeds upon flies, insects, and fat things, such as candles, oil, and grease. It appears only by night, nor then unless when the weather is fine, and the season warm. These creatures in Africk and Ethiopia have tails as long as those of mice, which extend beyond their wings. There are some that have four ears, others only two. They build no nests, but bring forth their young in some hole or cleft in the tops and coverings of houses: There are some black, some white, fallow and ash-coloured. The old one suckles its young as they are fastned to its teats; and when she is obliged to leave them, in order to go and seek for food, she takes them from her teats and hangs them up against the wall, from which they do not get loose. There are Bats in China, as some say, as large as pullets, and are as delicate eating. Those of Brasil, Madagascar gascar and the Maldives are as large as ravens, and have a head like a fox’s: they cling to trees by little clasps which grow at the joints of their wings, and suck the blood of men while they are sleeping in the night, fastening upon the first member which they find uncovered.
