36 BRITISH BATS. 



are the first to awake from their dormant state. 

 These usually appear in early spring and remain 

 lively until the cold weather sets in and their 

 insect food cannot be procured. The noctule, or 

 great bat, is first seen in April, and generally seeks 

 its winter-quarters about the end of September. 

 On account of the exquisite sensibility of the nerves 

 in the skin of the bat's wings, these animals are 

 enabled to avoid obstacles in their flight in the 

 most marvellous manner. If a bat is placed in a 

 darkened room, with transverse strings placed across 

 it in various directions, it will steer itself between 

 them without striking against or even touching 

 them in its rapid movements. 



The different species of bats differ considerably 

 from one another in their manner of flight. The 

 pipistrelle flits generally near the ground, making 

 rapid and zig-zag turns in its flight, and frequently 

 darts off at a tangent in chase of a passing insect. 

 The noctule, on the contrary, will sometimes hover 

 like the kestrel, or swoop through the air, at a 

 considerable height, in widely extended circles, 

 the distinctive name of altivolans having been 

 applied to it on account of its lofty flight. I have 

 seen numbers of this bat wheeling round the high 

 trees in the walks at the back of Trinity and St. 

 John's College at Cambridge, in pursuit of the cock- 

 chafers (Melolontha vulgaris), which were emerging 



