34 MAMMALS. 



the home counties, and in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the Metropolis. Its name implies that its activity com- 

 mences only in the evening, and few bats are 

 less frequently seen abroad by day. Its torpor 

 lasts for at least six months, as it is rarely seen before the 

 early days of May, and disappears again in September or 

 October. Its flight, especially when it first returns to life, 

 is laboured, though at all times easily distinguished, by 

 those who know both, from the more deliberate movements 

 of the last species, to which it has in this respect been 

 compared. In other j^articulars there is considerable re- 

 semblance. This bat does not, however, give birth to 

 more than one at a time, while the pipistrelle has been 

 known to produce two. 



The Mouse- coloured Bat is the largest, as it is also one 

 of the rarest, of British bats ; indeed its claim to a place 

 Mouse- ^^ ^^^ fauna is, like that of the next, very 

 coloured slight. It is described as a quarrelsome, un- 

 ■^^** sociable species, feeding largely on moths, as 



well as on smaller insects. The membrane, which includes 

 all but the tip of the tail, is dark yellow, and partly cov- 

 ered with hair. There are also conspicuous tufts over the 

 eyes, and there is some hair elsewhere on the face. 



[Once recorded from the New Forest, Bechstein's bat 

 Bechstein's has been admitted into our fauna, which is as 

 Bat. unsatisfactory as the inclusion of a number of 



so-called " British " birds.^] 



Natterer's Bat is a smaller allied species, and lighter 

 in colour. It is the most hairy of all British bats. The 

 fur is long and soft ; in colour reddish grey 

 grey or and white. The membrane, which has a grey 

 batterer's shade, includes the ankle. Ears very long 

 and pointed. This species, which is widely 

 distributed throughout the British Islands, though less 



1 The Rougli-legged and Particoloured Bats are also admitted to the 

 British list on the strength of the cajiture of a single example of each ! 

 They do not therefore invite description in the present outline. 



