32: 



AIAALMALS OF AMERICA 



as itself and worthy of its powers," will you see 

 this rarest of all the Eastern species of Bats, or 

 darting downward, to drink of a neighboring 

 brook, and again shooting up with lightning speed. 



The Hoary Bat is perhaps the largest of all 

 the Bats of the Northern and Middle States. It 

 is much larger than the Red Bat, being from 

 five to five and one-half inches in length, and 

 having a wing spread of fifteen to seventeen 

 inches. Its ears are broader in proportion to 

 their length than those of the Red Bat. 



The range of the Hoary Bat is as wide as the 

 continent. Si)ecimens have been found in at 

 least eighteen States ; also in Canada and Mex- 

 ico. As to its local range. Dr. Merriam says: 

 " Its nightly range is vastly greater than that of 

 any of its associates. While the other species 

 are extremely local, moving to and fro over a 

 very restricted area, this traverses a compara- 

 tively large extent of territory in its evening ex- 

 cursions, which fact is probably attributable to its 

 superior powers of flight." 



.A.ccording to Miller, the Hoary Bat breeds 

 within the Boreal zone ; and Merriam thinks 

 " there can be no reasonable doubt " that the 

 mating time is about the first of August. In 

 1883, between July 30 and August 6, he saw 

 more Hoary Bats than he has " seen in all before 

 and since, and twelve adult specimens killed 

 during that brief period were all males. They 

 were not feeding, but were rushing wildly about, 

 evidently in search of the females." The young 

 are born in late May or early June, the usual 



number being four. During June and July the 

 young Bats grow quickly. The mother leaves 

 them in the den or lurking-place, often a knot- 

 hole in a hollow tree, screened from hawk or 

 marten, and loo small to admit those enemies of 

 the Bat tribe. The mother Bat strips the bodie.i 

 of moths and other insects of their limbs and 

 hard casings and brings the soft parts to her 

 young ones. One meal at evening twilight and 

 another at morning twilight is the order of feed- 

 ing in Bat circles. The young Bats soon learn 

 to fiy and are taken out nightly by their mother. 

 The Hoary Bat is very jiarticular about its toilet, 

 cleaning its fur like a cat. 



.\mong the enemies of the Hoary Bat must be 

 listed, besides such four-footed ones as the mar- 

 ten, the blue jay, horned owl, and hawk. 



Like its red cousin, the Hoary Bat is migra- 

 tory. This fact is attested by observations in 

 Canada, by those of Dr. E. A. Mearns in the 

 Hudson Highlands of New York, where, during 

 the first week of November or a little earlier, 

 great flights of them have been seen, and by 

 those of S. N. Rhoads, who has " observed this 

 species returning apparently from extensive 

 flights over the ocean on the New Jersey coast 

 in the early morning before sunrise." Miller, too, 

 in .\ugust and .September, saw the appearance 

 and disajjpearance of three species of Bats, 

 among which was the Hoary Bat, at Highland 

 Light, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. .A.s with the 

 Red Bat, in migrating the males fly in one flock 

 and the females in another. 



LITTLE FREE-TAILED BAT 



Nyctinomus cynocephalus {LeCotitc) 



General Description. — A small, dark-colored Bat 

 with the tail partly free of the usual iutcrfeinoral 

 membrane. Head small ; muzzle blunt, with thick upper 

 lip ; long bristles on face ; ears broad and almost meet- 

 ing at their inner margins ; body small ; wings narrow ; 

 long hairs on back of all the toes; pelage rather shorter 

 and more velvety than that of other Bats. 



Dental Formula. — Incisors, ^^: Canines. -~— ; Pre- 



3—3 ' • I— I ' 



molars, "-— ' ; Molars, ^^=32. 

 2—2 ' 3—3 '' 



Pelage. — Adults : Sexes identical, seasonal variation 

 slight. ."Kbove, and on sides of neck, dusky-brown or 

 plumbeous ; under parts and sides paler ; hairs of upper 

 parts and sides of neck white at the base ; elsewhere 

 unicolor. Young: Similar to adults but blacker. 



Measurements. — Total length. 3.5 inches ; tail verte- 

 brae, \.2 inches; hind foot, .3 inch. 



Range.— Southern United States. 

 Food. — Insects. 



Rr.iATEi) Species 



Little Free-tailed Bat. — Nyctmomiis cynocephalus 

 (LeConte). Typical animal as described above. South- 

 ern United States. 



Mohave Bat. — Nyctinomus mcxicanus (Saussure). 

 Color sooty-gray, below smoke-gray, .-\bout the same 

 size and with markings of the Free-tailed Hat. Arizona 

 and California. 



California Mastiff Bat.— Eumops californicus (Mer- 

 riam). Size very large; total length, 6.4 inches; ears 

 united at base and very broad; a glandular swelling in 

 front of each eye; sooty-brown, paler below. Southern 

 California. 



