ORDER OF BATS 



321 



HOARY BAT 

 Lasiurus cinereus [Beauvois) 



General Description. — One of the largest North 

 American Bats. General characters of the Red Bat. but 

 coloration much diiiferent. A beautiful Bat of striking 

 appearance. 



Dental Formula. — Same as Red Bat. 



Pelage. — Sexes identical ; no seasonal variation. 

 Upper pelage blackish at base, the middle of the hairs 

 pale yellowish-brown, the tips distinctly hoary-white ; 

 head ochraceous ; breast and much of belly similar to 

 the back; remainder of lower parts grayish-bufif ; fur on 

 underside from elbow to wrist. 



Measurements. — Total length, 5.5 inches ; expanse 

 of wings. 16 inches. 



Range. — Boreal North America from the .Atlantic to 

 the Pacific. 



Food. — Insects. 



Remarks. — Color variation is considerable, but 

 never enough to obscure the character of the species. 

 It appears to be wholly independent of locality, as skins 

 from such widely separated localities as Minnesota and 

 southern California are found to be extremely hard to 

 distinguish apart. 



Among the " Winged Brownies of the 

 Woods," as Mr. Seton calls them, one of the no- 

 tables is the Hoary Bat, sometimes termed the 

 Great Northern Bat. He does not come abroad 

 of evenings with the common Bat herd ; not until 

 " the twilif^ht is fast fading into night, and vour 



eyes fairly ache from the constant effort of 

 searching its obscurity." does this rare animal 

 appear in Shadowland. Nor is he one of the 

 numerous low-flying crowd ; " far above the 

 tree-tops of the forest where fly the great luna 

 moths and the cecropias, with others half as big 



Photograph by G. Clyde Fisher 



By permission of the American Museum of Natural History 



RED BAT 

 This picture was taken in Delaware, N. J., the animal hanging from a twig, asleep 



