1894-95-] Daubentoris Bat {Vespertilio Daubentoni). 133 



having poor sport, I told my boatman to row the boat under- 

 neath a small cliff, on the face of which was a cavity in which 

 a hawk had built its nest and was rearing its young ones. I 

 had been watching this nest for some time previously, and only 

 wanted to see what progress the nestlings were making. As 

 we got close to the cliff, which dipped right down into the 

 loch, my attention was attracted by an animated chirping. I 

 at once guessed it was produced by bats, and after a little 

 examination discovered that the sound came from a fissure in 

 the rock. I looked about outside the opening, and seeing the 

 droppings of bats, had my suspicions confirmed. I then put 

 my face close to the fissure and peered in, and saw several 

 bats clinging to the rock. They seemed to be in constant 

 motion, and did not cease the chirping sound. I determined 

 to try and capture one or more of them, and as I thought they 

 might fly out if disturbed, I got out the spare top-piece of my 

 rod. I found I could probe with it the farther end of the 

 fissure in most parts ; but when the bats felt its touch they 

 climbed higher, and into the more inaccessible crevices, where 

 it became more difficult to reach them. At last one bat came 

 out and flew away before I could catch it. We watched it 

 fly some distance down the side of the loch and then take 

 refuge in a rocky bank amongst heather and ferns. Seeing that 

 the bats could not be easily caught by hand, I thought of my 

 landing-net. Holding it over part of the opening, I began to 

 work with the top-piece of my rod once more. I soon caught 

 a bat ; then my next attempt brought me two old ones, and a 

 young one which was clinging to its mother. When under- 

 neath the net on the stern seat of the boat the mother several 

 times left its young one, as if anxious to escape ; but its 

 maternal love seemed to overcome all fear for itself for the 

 moment, as it always returned to its young one, which clung 

 to its parent. The little one was almost without hair, and was 

 a very tiny creature, about three-fourths of an inch in length 

 when rolled up. On the evening of the day on which it was 

 captured it remained clinging to its mother's back, but the fol- 

 lowing day it lay rolled up in its mother's left wing. When 

 I turned the mother over to see how the little one was clutched, 

 I found that only a small part of the under surface of its body 

 could be seen, and the outside of its mother's wing was doubled 



