Big-eared Bat; Little Brown Bat ' " , 



•> 



Big-eared Bat 



Corynorhinus macrotis (Le Conte) 



Length. 4.20 inches. 



Description. Ears very large, joined together in front ; a round 

 hump or swelling on each side of the head, between the 

 eye and the nostril. Hair above, yellowish brown; below, 

 grayish white, throat darker and tinged with yellow; all hairs 

 dark brown at the base. 



Range. Gulf coast north to Kentucky and South Carolina. 



Little Brown Bat 



My Otis Iticifiigns (Le Conte) 



Length. 3.40 inches. 



Description. Fur above, glossy brown; paler and more yellowish 

 below; wing membranes naked except a narrow strip near 

 the body. 



Range. Whole of North America east of the Rocky Mountains. 

 Covering the same range there is a very similar species, 

 Say's Bat (M. stibulatus), with thinner membranes, longer 

 ears and narrower skull. These and the Pipistrelle are the 

 smallest of our bats. 



Bats are easily the queerest things to be found in this part 

 of the world. 



In spite of their general abundance, and their way of con- 

 gregating more thickly about dwellings than anywhere else, their 

 ways are little known. We know, at least, that they are warm- 

 blooded, furry, milk-giving little inhabitants of dark, stuffy cor- 

 ners of old buildings and hollow trees. Awake, at the most, 

 some four out of every twenty-four hours of their drowsy little 

 lives, they never make any nests or even attempt to fix over 

 tlie crannies where they hide and where the little bats are born. 

 These helpless things are not left at home at the mercy of fora- 

 ging rats and mice. When the old bat flits off into the twilight 

 the youngsters often go with her clinging about her neck, 

 swinging away over the tree-tops and along the foggy 

 water-side, while she chases the numberless little flying things oi 

 the dark. 



196 



