DAUBENTON'S, OR THE WATER BAT 153 



it seems to prefer the greater security afforded by a cave or 

 building to the somewhat uncertain protection of the branches 

 of trees, or of open rock-fissures like those of Loch Dochart, 

 which were deserted by their occupants in autumn/ In its 

 winter retreats, in contradiction to the sociability of summer, 

 it is not unusually met with hanging singly in complete dark- 

 ness. Mr Heatley Noble's cavern at Henley-on-Thames, and 

 the mine tunnels at Alderley Edge, Cheshire, are said to be 

 only resorted to in winter. 



Possibly the seasonal migration suggested above may at 

 times reach a somewhat extended scale ; otherwise, unless it 

 had a wish to emulate the performances of the petrels, it is 

 difficult to account for the capture of a bat of this species, as 

 related by Mr R. M. Barrington," at the Lucifer Shoals Light- 

 ship, nine miles off the coast of Wexford, on 24th April 1891. 



As a rule, this species is supposed to be late — distinctly 

 later than the Pipistrelle — in making its vespertinal appearance, 

 and to delay the commencement of its flight until the shades 

 of night are well advanced. It is further usually assumed 

 that on emerging it flies straight to the water ; but observa- 

 tions on these points are rarely recorded, since it is difficult 

 to detect a bat actually issuing from its retreat. The prob- 

 able truth is that it is an early flier, but that it begins 

 the evening with some evolutions in mid-air, as has been 

 independently suggested by Messrs Coward and Lyster 

 Jameson.^ The latter naturalist, at Branganstown, Ireland, 

 and Kinahan, at Tankardstown Bridge, found the Pipistrelle 

 the later of the two, at Tankardstown Bridge by a full half- 

 hour. Lastly, Mr Oldham writes me that, although the average 

 time of appearance at the water in Cheshire is fifty-six minutes 

 after sunset, he has actually caught four bats as they emerged 

 from their den thirty-four and twenty-nine minutes earlier. 

 At the same place, and nearly, although not exactly, at the 

 same date, he caught a Pipistrelle as it emerged some thirty 

 minutes after the Water Bats. The point is one of some 

 interest, and deserves attention. 



1 Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 1896, 57-58. 



2 The Migration of Birds, 284 : R. H. Porter, London, 1900. 

 ^ Irish Naturalist, 1897, 39. 



