LONG-EARED BAT 17 



Order CHIROPTERA. 



LONG-EARED BAT. 



Plecotus auritus (Z.). 



Though mucli less abundant than the next species, this 

 Bat is widely distributed in the district, and is by no means 

 rare. I have myself obtained it at Tynefield and Gosford in 

 East Lothian, at Colinton in Midlothian,^ and at Lamancha in 

 Peeblesshire ; and have seen examples (including one obtained 

 by Mr Harvie-Brown at Dunipace in Stirlingshire), or had it 

 reported to me, from a number of other localities on both sides 

 of the Forth. All my captures have been made while the 

 animals were at rest in their hiding-places, which I have 

 invariably found to be about buildings. The Colinton colony 

 inhabit the ruins of an ancient castle, concealing themselves 

 in narrow holes in the masonry of the roofs of the vaults and 

 passages. The species was recorded for Alloa as far back as 

 1793 (" Old Stat. Ace," viii., p. 646). 



Mr George Pow has sent me a specimen which was 

 taken in the day-time, near Dunbar, on 10th June last. It 

 flew against the face of its captor apparently in a dazed state, 

 and fell helpless to the ground. At Yetholm, in June 1886, 

 I observed one fluttering in broad daylight near an old mill 

 in the same semi-conscious state, and might easily have 

 captured it but for an intervening stream. Its behaviour was 

 in marked contrast to the activity displayed by the Pipistrelle, 



^ A specimen obtained at Yester in East Lothian, on 17th October 1891, 

 has been handed to me by Mr Bruce Campbell ; and I have to thank 

 Mr D. F. Mackenzie for another taken at Mortonhall, near Edinburgh, 

 on 10th November, 



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