166 The Rev. L. Jenyns on the Common Bat of Pennant. 
the hair is wholly dusky, except at the extreme tips, which 
are of the same colour as above, but paler. In young speci- 
mens the fur is entirely of a dusky-brown or brownish-gray, 
in some instances almost black, without any tinge of red, 
which appears to come afterwards, and to increase in in- 
tensity with the age and size of the individual*. Nose, 
lips, ears, flying and interfemoral membranes, dusky. 
To the above description of our Common English Bat, which 
has been drawn from an examination of many individuals of 
different sizes compared togethert, I may, perhaps, be allowed 
to add two or three remarks in illustration of its habits. Pen- 
nant, and after him some other of our English authors, describe 
this species as retiring at the approach of winter into caves, 
ruined buildings, the roofs of houses, or hollow trees. This is 
by far too general an assertion. I believe that each of our 
British Bats has its own peculiar place of concealment, and 
that, under ordinary circumstances, their respective habits in 
this particular are always the same. As far as my own expe- 
rience goes, I have found hollow trees the constant retreat of 
the Noctule, and the roofs of houses as uniformly resorted to by 
the Long-eared Bat; whilst the species under consideration I 
never met with but in the crevices of decayed brick-work, in 
the cracks of old gateways and door-frames, or behind the leaden 
pipes frequently attached to buildings for carrying off the rain. 
They seem peculiarly to delight in the two former situations, 
+ ^ the specimen of the Pipistrelle in the British Museum, the fur is of a renitirk- 
_ ably red or foxy colour; and this individual is likewise distinguished by its size. 
ions are all taken from the same individual, recently killed, and whilst . 
aturalstate. The expansion of the flying membrane varies 
to eight inches and a half, which 
fou so that Pennant’s statement of nine inches 
for this part must be looked upon as Feosdenibiy above the average. - 
collecting, 
