26 
is common. ‘The ears are nearly as long as the head and body, 
and are exceedingly sensitive and vascular. We may see this 
species flying at night, its long ears silhouetted against the sky. 
When the Bat is awake these ears are conspicuous, but when 
asleep they are hidden beneath the wing, and only the tragus or 
inner earlet is visible. 
The Barbastelle and Serotine are exceedingly rare in the 
North of England—if they occur at all. The Noctule, the 
largest British Bat, sometimes measuring 14 inches from tip to 
tip of its wings, is common. It is generally a high flying species, 
but on occasion will fly at a very low elevation. The Noctule is 
crepuscular ; its average stay upon the wing in the evening is an 
hour. It feeds on large beetles and moths. 
Leislers Bat is the Irish Noctule: it occurs in a few places in 
England, but the Noctule does not occur in Ireland. The Pipis- 
trelle or Common Bat is a pocket edition of the Noctule; it is 
‘abundant. For a long time it was confused with the ‘* Common 
Bat’ of the Continent, then known as “ Vesbertillo murinus.” 
This is a large species which has once been captured in England 
under suspicious circumstances—in the British Museum yard. 
The parti-coloured and the rough-legged Bats have also but 
slender claim to be included in our list, but Bechstein’s Bat, 
which occurs in the New Forest and in at least one place in the 
Thames valley, though exceedingly rare, is evidently a British 
resident. 
Daubenton’s Bat may be recognised by its flight: it flies like 
a swallow close to the surface of the water. When one was 
knocked into the water it swam to the side with ease. Bats, like 
all other creatures—vide Dr. Louis Robinson—attempt to get out 
of water by their usual method of escaping from danger : they fly 
or row themselves through the water. Men and monkeys follow 
their ancestral habit of climbing, they clutch at a branch above 
their heads, which is generally not there. Then they drown. 
Man, like the water fowl, has adopted a method of swimming 
apart from this, but the monkey has not learnt to swim. The 
Bat, like the bird (other than a water bird) flies through the 
water. 
Natterer’s Bat, another well-distributed species, may be recog- 
nised by the lash of hairs upon its interfemoral membrane, and 
by its silvery underparts. It holds its tail out straight behind it 
when in flight, while other species carry the tail half curved 
beneath the body, or re-curved over the back. When alighting 
after flight it sometimes follows the habit of the majority of 
other Bats, clutches first with the thumbs and then shuffles 
round to the inverted position, or it does what the Horseshoes 
always do, turns a complete somersault in the air and clutches 
at duce with the feet only. 
