MAMMALS OF THE REGION 123 



The rather small size, eleven-inch spread of wings, 

 and black fur and membranes, often give ample recogni- 

 tion characters while the bats are on the wing, but the 

 silvery frosting on the black back is the most striking 

 character of the species. 



RED BAT 



Nycteris borealis 



Two skulls of the little red bat were found on the 

 floor of the deepest room in the cave. They were very 

 old and fragile, and had been there many years. The 

 teeth were all gone, but the cranium was complete in 

 each. So little is known of the winter resorts of these 

 bats that every cave record is important. In summer 

 they are tree bats, spending their days hanging among 

 tufts of green leaves in the branches, and this record is 

 probably of a hibernating colony. 



Red bats are of medium size, with very short ears and 

 golden brown fur. 



HOARY BAT 



Nycteris cinerea 



A very large gray bat found hanging in a bush in the 

 gulch below the cave by Jim White in the fall of 1923 

 must have been of this species. He said it was squeak- 

 ing and screeching in a very savage tone when he found 

 it, but as he did not disturb it, I suspect there were 

 two of them. This is of course a migration record but 

 I could get no definite date for it. These are northern 

 bats that migrate at least to the southernmost parts of 

 the United States, but there seem to be no records of 



