Hoary-bat 1197 



"In August and September, 1890 and 1891, I had an 

 opportunity to watch the appearance and disappearance of 

 three species of Bats, Lasionycteris noctivagans, Lasturus 

 borealis, and Lasiiirus cinereus, at Highland Light, Cape Cod, 

 Mass. The animals, which were not to be found during the 

 summer, suddenly became numerous shortly after the middle 

 of August and remained abundant for about a month, when 

 they as suddenly disappeared. The regularity with which this 

 phenomenon occurred on the two successive years over which 

 my observations extended shows that the migration of Bats is 

 probably as definite as to dates and paths as that of birds." 



I find in one of my journals a Bat note that refers to this 

 present question: 



One day, early in September, 1885, I went at dawn to the 

 marsh near Toronto, Ont., to see the autumnal departure of the 

 swallows whose head-quarters for a week before had been the 

 great reed-beds on the Don side of the Bay. As the sky was 

 brightening in the east, they began to arise in a body, towering 

 like a swirling column of smoke, to seek the elevation at which 

 they make their daytime flight. Sunrise was near, and most 

 of them were gone when a large Bat arose with the last swarm 

 from the reed-bed, circling up in plain view. My companion 

 called out, "Look at that big Bat," and made an attempt to 

 collect it, but the Bat sailed away with the swallows towards the 

 south. It was almost certainly a Hoary-bat. 



This incident, if it proves anything, would seem to show 

 that one of our large Bats migrates by day, and possibly also, 

 that, like many migrants, it seeks the company of other 

 travellers more likely than itself to know the way. 



The uninitiated may ask whether the Bat could fly in powers 

 company with such dashing coursers of the air as swallows 

 without being a hopeless laggard. But none who know the Bat 

 will think of such a thing. Reference to the incident of the old 

 Red-bat carrying her young that weighed more than she did, 

 and yet catching flies in the air for food, will show that these 

 creatures have solved the problem of flight better than birds. 



