THE GREATER HORSESHOE BAT 249 



retreat, so that the date of birth of the single^ young is uncertain. 

 The first, however, appear about the 20th June, after a period 

 of gestation lasting ten or eleven weeks ; the last are probably 

 born before the end of July.^ 



The young are carried about by their mothers, attached to 

 the false nipples by their teeth. When they are hungry they 

 transfer their hold to the true nipples, and on the milk derived 

 thence they are nourished for a period, estimated from the 

 analogy of the Mouse-eared Bat, of about two months. They 

 grow rapidly, and by the middle of September are nearly as 

 big as their parents. 



The attitude of the young one, clinging as it does by its teeth 

 to the false nipples of its mother, differs in a marked particular 

 from that of the typical bats. Its wings lie close to its 

 mother's abdomen, its feet cling one to each of her flanks, its 

 tail, with the tip recurved as in the adult, stretches near her 

 neck. The result is that, as the mother hangs head down- 

 wards, the little one's head is uppermost, a position unique 

 amongst British bats. 



Mr Coward's observations have done much towards dispell- 

 ing the deep ignorance hitherto prevailing in regard to the 

 habits of one of the finest and most remarkable of British bats. 

 He was, in fact, the first English naturalist who succeeded 

 in keeping it alive in captivity, in one case for a period of 

 nine weeks. 



There are some curious myths circulating amongst conti- 

 nental naturalists, some of whom have stated that the Horse- 

 shoes sometimes suck the blood of sleeping birds and mammals. 

 Fatio even quotes without disapproval Kolenati's statement 

 that the present species roams by night with criminal intent 

 amongst birds'-nests, or haunts for sinister ends the rocky 

 mountain refuges of the Chamois. 



The large size, broad wings, and curious butterfly-like flight 

 should make this species easily recognisable. 



^ Note, however, that in Germany Kuhl found two, sometimes one (see above, 

 p- 231). 



- Arthur Whitaker had one born in captivity on 14th July. 



