44 BATS. 



it anything to eat, it brought its wings round before the 

 mouth, hovering and hiding its head in the mamiei cf birds 

 of prey when they feed. The adroitness it showed m shear- 

 ing off the wings of the flies, w-hich were always rejected, 



animal itself falling at the same instant Tvith all its membranes expanded, 

 cowering over the devoted fly, witli its head thrust under them in order to 

 secure its prey. When the head was again drawn forth, the membranes 

 were immediately closed and the fly was almost invariably taken by the head. 

 The act of deglutition was a laboured operation : the mastication consisting of 

 a succession of eager bites or snaps ; and the sucking process, if I may so 

 term it, by which the insect is drawn into the mouth, being greatly assisted 

 by tlie loose lip of the animal. Several minutes were usually occupied in 

 swallowing a large fly. Those which I offered in the first instance were 

 eaten entire ; but I subsequently observed detached wings in the bottom of 

 the box in which the bats were kept ; I never, however, observed the rejection 

 of the wings by the bats, and am inclined to think that they are generally 

 swallowed. The olfactory nerves of the pipistrelle are acutely sensible, 

 readily distinguishing between an insect and a bit of beef ; for when one of 

 them has been hanging at rest, attached by its hinder extremities to one of the 

 bars in front of its cage, I have frequently placed a small piece of beef within 

 a short distance of its nose, but the beef has always been disregarded ; when, 

 on the other hand, I have put a fly in the same situation, the bat instantly 

 commenced snapping after it. They would eat the beef when they were 

 hungry, but they never refused a fly. 



" In the day-time they sometimes clustered together in a comer of the 

 cage. Towards evening they became very lively and gave rapid utterance to 

 their harsh, creaking notes. The longest survivor of them died after a cap- 

 tivity of nineteen days. 



"My intimate acquaintance with the noctule bat, the species of which 

 Gilbert White appears to have been the first English observer, and for which 

 he indicated the specific name altwolans, commenced on the 16th of May, 

 1834. I obtained on that day from Hertfordshire five specimens, four of 

 which were pregnant females. The fifth individual, a male, was exceedingly 

 restless and savage from the first ; biting the females, and breaking his teeth 

 against the wires of the cage in his attempts to escape from his place of con- 

 finement. He rejected all food, and died on the 18th. Up to this time the 

 remaining four had continued sulky ; but towards the evening they ate a few 

 small pieces of raw beef, in preference to flies, beetles, or gentles, all of which 

 were offered to them : only one, however, fed kindly. On the 20th, one 

 -iied ; and on the 22nd, two others. The survivor was tried with a variety of 

 food, for I was anxious to preserve her as long as possible ; and as she evinced 

 a decided preference for the hearts, livers, &c. of fowls, she was fed constantly 

 upon them. Occasionally I offered to her large flies, but they were always 

 rejected ; although one or two May chafers placed within her reach were 

 partially eaten. In taking the food the wings are not thrown forward in the 

 manner of the pipistrelle, as if to surround a victim and prevent its escape ; 

 tlie action of tlie noctule in seizing the meat was similar to that of a dog. 

 The appetite was sometime* voracious ; the quantity etsen exceeding half aa 



