VESl'KRfCO \OCTI VACANS. 189 



the Silver-haired Bat emerges from its hidings-place.* After a few 

 turns about the immediate neighborhood it generally takes a pretty 

 direct course for water. I have seen it start from the summit of 

 a high, densely-wooded hill, circle around for a few minutes, and 

 then, keeping far above the tree-tops, sail leisurely toward a dis- 

 tant river till lost from sight in the valley below. And, stand- 

 ing on the banks of the large stream that winds along the foot of 

 this hill, I have seen the bats tlying over at a height of several 

 hundred feet, all moving in the same direction toward a more 

 distant river. 



Whether it remains abroad all ni^ht, or limits itself to com- 



o 



paratively brief excursions in evening and early morning, can only 

 be conjectured. I am inclined to favor the latter view, for the 

 reason that the greater number always disappear before the dark- 

 ness becomes sufficiently intense to hide them from sight. Against 

 this opinion it may be argued that, as night advances, the bats 

 move on to other parts of the neighborhood ; to which I can only 

 reply, that it has never been my good fortune to discover their 

 midnight haunts, though I have visited various sections of the 



o o 



country at all hours of the night, and frequently under the light 

 of the full-moon. It is true that solitary individuals are occasion- 

 ally met with later, but never in anything like the numbers that 

 are to be seen in the early evening. The flight of this species is 

 neither so rapid nor so irregular as that of the red or the hoary bat. 

 In Lewis County, the best locality for bats that I am acquainted 

 with is near the junction of Sugar and Black Rivers. The 

 numerous caves in the lime rock at this point afford them a multi- 

 tude of hiding-places just suited to their liking, and they here have 

 the additional advantage of close proximity to running water. 

 The disproportionate abundance of the Silver-haired Bat to other 



* Leaving out of consideration the red bat, which is not sufficiently common in the region under 

 consideration to afford satisfactory data, the present species is the first to appear. When the 

 evenings begin to shorten, after the end of June, it may be looked for about one minute earlier 

 each night. 



