8 Coward, Greater Horseshoe Bat in Captivity. 



The bats preferred living beetles to dead ones, and 

 though I now and then managed to trick a bat into 

 eating one which had been killed, it was the exception 

 rather than the rule. Generally the bat would over 

 and over again refuse a dead beetle which was offered to 

 it, although it would at once seize one which was alive, 

 even though the beetle was feigning death. It is quite 

 likely that the bat could smell the difference, for a dead 

 Geotriipes has a noticeably unpleasant odour. 



The Horseshoe drinks by lapping with the tongue. 

 It is a thirsty animal, and we can only suppose, from its 

 behaviour in captivity, that it obtains water in its natural 

 state ; possibly, like other bats, it hovers over pools of 

 water and laps whilst on the wing. 



The Greater Horseshoe is famous for its wonderful 

 power of flying round and amongst obstacles without 

 touching them with its wings, but when it is dashing after 

 its prey it pays little attention to its surroundings. On 

 one occasion a bat caught a beetle near the floor, and in 

 its headlong dash bumped, with the beetle in its mouth, 

 into the leg of a chair ; on another, bat and beetle came 

 full tilt against my waistcoat. Once or twice the bat fell 

 to the ground, but, having secured the beetle in its dash, 

 rose at once with its prey. Occasionally, however, a 

 beetle was captured with more deliberation. The bat 

 would fly to it, hesitate in its flight, hover a second, 

 gently snap the beetle, and at once return to its perch. 



The temperature in the Cheddar caves and in the old 

 mines at Braunton is fairly constant, about 52°F. I 

 attempted to keep the temperature of the room in which 

 I kept my bats as even as possible, but found it very 

 difficult to do this during the frosts in January. At 

 Cheddar the bats became active at dusk, but as a rule my 

 captives did not awake until late in the evening, generally 



