COMMON BAT, PIPISTRELLE OR FLITTER-MOUSE 123 



young Noctules, and in that position were at first hardly- 

 visible from without. After a few days the relation between 

 mothers and offspring became much less close, and they began 

 to hang themselves up alone at a distance of a few inches from 

 their parents. When they were a week or two old they usually 

 spent the day, often close together, at the side of the cage 

 opposite to that affected by their mothers, and would sleep 

 quietly by themselves for many hours. When wanting their 

 mothers or when touched, they would lift themselves well up 

 on the wrists, raise the head high and turn it anxiously 

 about from side to side, uttering a chirrup resembling the 

 soft smacking of human lips ; this was very faint when the 

 creatures were young, but steadily grew in power as the days 

 went by. This sound was uttered with widely open mouth, 

 and after calling for a while the bat would set off in search 

 of its mother, whom it clearly distinguished from that of its 

 companion, and when found seized with its teeth by any 

 part available. Generally each managed to work its way 

 to a comfortable position under a wing, where, once arrived, 

 the mother would usually bend down her head to "tuck" 

 it in, at which times it could be heard uttering a soft, musical 

 twitter. 



If the mother happened to be feeding at the time, she 

 would often take no notice of her young, but would drag it 

 carelessly about, clinging possibly to her interfemoral mem- 

 brane, or to the fur of her back. Whenever she happened 

 to pause, the youngster would try to improve its grip, and 

 the tenacity with which it clung to her was astonishing, so 

 that it very seldom dropped off, when once it had taken 

 hold. After feeding, the mothers always attended to the 

 young ones immediately. If the baby was under its mother's 

 wing when she came out to feed, it did not hamper her 

 movements very much until it came to pouching a meal- 

 worm ; the young one appeared to render this most difficult, 

 and seemed to be very much in the way. This was so 

 much the case that, when the young ones were three weeks 

 old, Mr Whitaker was compelled either to feed the mothers 

 by hand, or to remove the young ones from them whilst 

 they fed. 



