90 MAMMALIA. 



VESPERUGO NOCTIVAGANS (LeConte) Dobson. 

 Silver-haired Bat ; Silver-Black Bat. 



This is our commonest bat, far outnumbering all the other 

 species together, I have killed it in various parts of the Wilder- 

 ness, and during the past summer Dr. A. K. Fisher, Walter H. 

 Merriam, and myself shot over one hundred and twenty-five in 

 Lewis County, along the western border of the region. 



Like many other bats, it has a decided liking for water ways, 

 coursing up and down streams and rivers, and circling around lakes 

 and ponds. In some places its habit of keeping directly over the 

 water is very marked. At Lyon's Falls it is exceedingly abundant, 

 particularly just below the falls. I have stood, gun in hand, 

 on a point on the east bank of the river, and have seen hundreds 

 passing and repassing, flying over the water, while during the 

 entire evening not more than two or three strayed so far that if 

 shot they would fall on the land. Several that were wounded and 

 fell into the water, at a distance of fifteen or twenty feet from the 

 bank, swam ashore. They swam powerfully and swiftly, for the 

 current is here quite strong and would otherwise have carried them 

 some distance down stream. 



Next to water courses, the borders of hard-wood groves are the 

 favorite haunts of the Silver-haired Bat. By standing close under 

 the edge of the trees one sees many that at a little distance would 

 pass unobserved. While searching for their insect prey they may 

 be seen to dart in and out among the branches and to penetrate, 

 in various directions, the dense mat of foliage overhead. They 

 often pass within a few inches of one's face, and yet it is rare that 

 a sound is heard from their delicate wings.* In the early dusk 



* In localities where we had hunted bats for some time, Dr. Fisher and I have on several occasions 

 heard a bat, when swooping overhead, produce a sound which was distinctly audible at a distance of 

 several paces. But in each instance, if the bat rose against the clear western horizon, we saw the 

 light shine through numerous perforations in its wings, and the noise was unquestionably produced 

 by the whistling of the air through these shot holes. 



