daubenton's bat 21 



who tells me they were found with many others in the hollow 

 of an old ash. He assures me there were many dozens 

 clustered together in this dormitory, which, however, they 

 forsook immediately after its discovery. I have little doubt 

 the feeding-ground of the colony was Duddingston Loch, 

 over whose surface, on calm summer evenings, numbers of 

 V. dauhentoni may generally be seen.^ On two occasions in 

 June of the present year (1891) I was on the south side of 

 the loch at dusk, and identified several pairs, their larger size, 

 and habit of gliding in easy circles close to the surface of the 

 water, serving at once to distinguish them from the Pipi- 

 strelles. In other suitable localities I have from time to time 

 seen bats that doubtless were of this species. In the " Pro- 

 ceedings" of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club (vol. ix., p. 441), 

 Dr Hardy states — on the authority, he tells me, of the late 

 Mr Ptobert Gray — that Daubenton's Bat is well known about 

 Dunbar, a district from which, through the attention of Mr 

 G. Pow, I have received three examples in the flesh. Two of 

 these — male and female — were shot as they flew over a sheet 

 of water at Broxmouth on 20th June of the present year 

 (1891), and the third by the Tyne at East Linton four days 

 later. The expanse of the wings in the first of these was about 

 9f inches, while in the last it was barely 9. The species has 

 likewise been recorded more than once from Eoxburghshire 

 (" Proc. Berw. Nat. Club," ix., p. 441 ; and " Scottish Leader " 

 of 22nd June 1888). Its Scottish stronghold, however, 

 would appear to be in the neighbourhood of Dumfries, where 

 Mr Service tells me it is commoner than the Pipistrelie. 

 As in the case of other Bats, July seems to be the usual 

 time for the production of the young. 



1 "Vogt, in his Natural History of Animals (London, 1887, vol. i., p. 106), 

 says of this Bat, " Its winter quarters are in hollow trees, often pretty far 

 from its huntinff-f'round. " 



