202 VESPERTILIONID^— PLECOTUS 



have found it also in the oak-woods. But trees are not by 

 any means an absolute necessity to it, for it will also hunt low 

 over the ground, probably in search of grass-loving insects, 

 and it has been hooked in the mouth by the Hon. R. E. Dillon 

 when fishing with an artificial fly.^ It appears to be a jealous 

 little creature, for it has often been seen to attack and repulse 

 a Pipistrelle whenever one chanced to approach its feeding- 

 grounds. 



"To observe this bat on the wing," write these observers,^ 

 "it is a good plan to wait at dusk under some tree whose 

 foliage is not too dense to be seen through — an Ash is probably 

 the best that can be selected — and watch for its appearance 

 amongst the branches overhead. From about thirty-two or 

 thirty-five minutes after sunset, its figure may, almost any 

 summer evening, be thus detected against the sky, gliding 

 and hovering in a stealthy manner among the outer sprays of 

 the tree. It threads its way with a beautiful facility among 

 the twigs and leaves, often seeming rather to swim than to fly, 

 so slight is the visible movement of the wings. Poising, at 

 times, like a humming-bird, it appears to be picking something 

 from the leaves ; at other times it suddenly plunges into the 

 middle of a spray, and remains for several seconds clinging to 

 the twigs, no doubt securing or eating some insect. It is not 

 uncommon to see one Ash-tree occupied at the same moment 

 by five or six of these bats — though each comes and departs 

 by itself — all gliding in the same noiseless and lemurine 

 fashion among the leaves, and all to the casual bystander 

 practically invisible. The long ears are often thrown forward 

 so as to resemble a proboscis, and may be distinctly seen if 

 the observer is posted immediately below the bat. 



" When one of these bats leaves a tree, if its object is 

 merely to pass to another quite near at hand, it darts through 

 the air with a swift arrowy flight ; but when a longer expedition 

 is contemplated the mode of quitting the tree is different. 

 The bat plunges headlong to within an inch or two of the 

 ground, and then skims away in jerking zigzag fashion — much 

 as a Nightjar does — over the surface of the field. The swift 



1 The " Detached Olive," Irish Naturalist^ 1906, 278. 

 ^ Ibid.^ 1901, 242-244. 



