THE NOCTULE, OR GREAT BAT 65 



presence is often betrayed by the excrement, which, as 

 at Ragley, the seat of the Marquis of Hertford, may 

 lie so thick as to darken the ground under some ancient 

 resort. 



From such holes, the entrance to which is often polished 

 smooth by the frequent passing in and out of the occupants, 

 the insertion of a flexible stick sometimes dislodges a surpris- 

 ing number of bats. For instance. Pennant states ^ that the 

 Reverend Doctor Buckworth saw taken from under the eaves 

 of Queens' College, Cambridge, one hundred and eighty-five in 

 one night ; on the second night sixty-three were taken, and 

 on the third night two. From another colony, described 

 from King's Lynn by Mr H. B. Booth,- nearly three hundred 

 bats were seen to issue for their evening flight. It has been 

 objected that, since there is no reason to believe that the bats 

 were all subjected to the rigid examination necessary to deter- 

 mine the specific distinctions of these animals, it is probable 

 that other kinds were mingled with them in these great con- 

 gregations ; but repeated observation by many naturalists has 

 led to the belief that the present species rarely, if ever, occu- 

 pies its retreats as a tenant in common with others, and 

 moreover the occupants of many lesser yet thickly crowded 

 Noctule dens have since been counted by reliable observers. 

 Indeed, the species is so abundant that Frederick Bond^ informed 

 Edward Newman that he had observed no less than three or 

 four hundred on the wing together. 



Although preferring in summer to seek its retreat in the 

 hollow cavities of trees, the Noctule is, as the above anecdote 

 shows, by no means loth to creep under the eaves of 

 houses, but, so far as I know, it has never been met with in 

 caves, a statement,* that it breeds in the Mendip caverns of 

 Somersetshire, being so contrary to the general experience that 

 I hesitate to accept it without corroboration. In fact, it seems 

 to be almost a rule with it to seek good winter quarters 

 amongst houses or ruins. From these it issues forth nightly 

 for a few weeks in the spring, but after a time forsakes them 

 for an entirely arboreal life, returning, however, for its autumnal 



' British Zoology^ London ed. of 1812, i, 179. ^ Zoologist^ I905> 427-4'29. 



^ Fields 7th March 1874, 218. * Stanley Lewis, Zoologist, 1906, 69. 



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