i899-] Alcock. — The Whiskered Bat 55 



The two upper photographs in Plate 3, were taken from the 

 Co. Dublin specimen referred to later on, and show the 

 attitude assumed when walking. They were taken shortly 

 after its untimely death, the photographs taken during life 

 being unfortunately much less successful. 



As might be anticipated, the Irish observations on the habits 

 of the Whiskered Bat are of the most meagre description. In 

 some parts of England, however, this bat is much more 

 frequently met with, and from the admirable accounts of 

 Tomes (xvii.), Harting (ix.), and the able paper of Coward 

 and Oldham (iii.), on the Mammals of Cheshire, many in- 

 teresting facts may be learned. 



In the daytime the Whiskered Bat lives in caverns, old 

 quarries, roofs of houses, cracks in walls, and many places of 

 this kind, apparently avoiding trees- as a resting-place, only 

 one specimen having been captured in this situation. 



It is solitary in its habits, and even when many individuals 

 frequent the same place they keep carefully apart, forming 

 thus a complete contrast to some other species, for example 

 the Noctule. 



The earliest date in the spring that this bat has been 

 observed, as far as I am aware, is April 15 (Hart). Tomes 

 observed it first on April 16, and Coward on April 26, curiously 

 enough at noon on all three occasions ! No one mentions the 

 date of retreat in the autumn ; my own specimen, when in 

 captivity, began to hibernate on October 7 \ this is probably 

 later than would have been the case out of doors. 



In the summer this bat comes out earlier in the evening than 

 Daubenton's Bat, sometimes in broad daylight, as in the cases 

 mentioned, when it has been observed hawking for insects, the 

 species of which do not seem to have been recorded. It is 

 said (Caton Haigh and Coward, contra Tomes) to fly in a 

 more sustained and less irregular manner than the Pipistrelle, 

 and to frequent the sheltered side of a belt of trees or tall 

 hedge rather than the open spaces near. Whether the 

 Whiskered Bat flies silently, or screaming as other species often 

 do, is not stated. In captivity the voice of the Whiskered 

 Bat is remarkably low in pitch, considerably less than 8,000 

 vibrations per second, as measured by Mr. Galton's whistle. 

 What time this bat retires for the night does not appear to 

 have been determined. 



A 2 



