124 VESPERTILIONID^— PIPISTRELLUS 



Mr Whitaker more than once allowed the mothers 

 to fly with their young ones, but they were always very 

 careful, before commencing to do so, to expand the 

 wings fully, and lift them up and down a few times, to 

 ascertain that "baby" was not clinging to the wing itself. 

 They seldom flew for more than five or six times the 

 length of the room with the youngster attached, but when 

 they did so, the youngster was plainly to be seen holding 

 to a nipple with its teeth, and to the fur with its feet, 

 the back being quite arched, so that the young one hung 

 well down from its parent, and was conspicuous enough 

 when the latter was flying in a room in the daylight. 



The young Pipistrelles unfortunately did not survive to 

 eat solid food or fly, although the stronger of the two was 

 frequently observed to open and stretch its wings during the 

 last few days before its death on the thirty-second day. 



The Pipistrelle has frequently been kept alive for long 

 periods in confinement, and possesses many lively and interesting 

 habits. It is far more active and ready to take wing than 

 the Noctule or Leisler's Bat, and, although irascible to members 

 of its own species, recognises its patrons, circling easily round a 

 room, and soon learning to come to the hand for flies or other 

 dainties. 



Bingley long ago showed that captive Pipistrelles are so 

 fearless as to take mealworms from the hand on the very day 

 of their capture. In this they resemble Noctules, and are as 

 a rule much less shy than the Whiskered or the Long-eared 

 Bats. When hungry they are not at all fastidious, and will 

 eat readily small pieces of raw meat, usually refusing such 

 as are not quite fresh and juicy. Their capacity for meal- 

 worms, according to Mr Whitaker, reaches thirty a day. 

 They like also many kinds of insects, sometimes eating, some- 

 times rejecting the wings ; but Mr Oldham's specimens could 

 only be induced to touch white butterflies or the yellow- 

 underwing moth after much persuasion, and Mr Whitaker's 

 refused the generally unpalatable magpie moth. 



Mr Whitaker has experimented on the senses of this 

 bat in captivity, and writes me that sight and hearing 

 seem the most important used both by it and by bats 



