1 36 DanbentoiCs Bat ( Vespertilio Daubentoni). [Sess. 



At 9.30 p.m. on Thursday, the 26th July, I was out fishing 

 on Loch Dochart with a friend, when we heard a strange wail 

 coming across the water from the other side of the loch. It 

 seemed to rise and fall, and attracted my immediate attention. 

 As it grew louder I managed to locate it as coming from the 

 most westerly of the cliffs in which the two male bats were 

 got by me on the 20th. The boat on which we were fishing 

 was distant from the cliff about 300 yards, yet the sound was 

 quite loud, although the wind was moderately strong from the 

 east and carrying the sound away from us. We rowed the 

 boat about 5 yards nearer, and could hear the wail was caused 

 by a great outburst of chirping, which reached a climax while 

 we were at this place. As I could now easily recognise the 

 chirping to proceed from the bats, I rowed the boat very 

 quietly in the direction of the cliff. As the boat approached, 

 the bats gradually lowered their violent chirping, and one or 

 two of them appeared flying over the boat. We could make 

 out that the sounds proceeded from two points in the cliff — 

 one of them the fissure in which we found the two male bats, 

 and the other a new station higher up the cliff, about 40 feet 

 to the right of the former. This latter station we had not 

 previously discovered, as it was too high up on the face of the 

 cliff for us to reach without a ladder. The subdued chirping 

 continued until we were alongside the rock, and holding on to 

 it to keep the boat in position so that we might try if we could 

 capture any of the bats. Whenever the boat bumped against 

 the rock the chirping ceased, and all our efforts to get at the 

 bats with the top-piece of a fishing-rod were unavailing. 



I have no doubt from what we saw and heard that the 

 chirping sound proceeded from the young ones, and that the 

 rising and falling of the sound which in the distance reached 

 our ears, and was heard like a wail, was caused by the arrival 

 or departure of the old bats, who were evidently supplying 

 their young with food. I have noticed that the young of 

 some birds not only make a great deal of chirping when the 

 parent birds bring them food, but also when, after feeding 

 them, they leave the nest. To my mind something of the 

 same habit is natural to these bats. As it has been impossible 

 to verify this view by actual observation, owing to the nature 

 of the places inhabited by these creatures, I only give the 



