THE HOARY BAT AND RED BAT 281 



liking for waterways, coursing up and down streams and rivers, and circling around 

 lakes and ponds. In some places its habit of keeping directly over the water is 

 very marked. At Lyon's Falls it is exceedingly abundant, particularly just below 

 the falls. I have stood, gun in hand, on a point on the east bank of the river, and 

 have seen hundreds passing and repassing, flying over the water, while during the 

 entire evening not more than two or three strayed so far that if shot they would 

 fall on land. Several that were wounded and fell into the water, at a distance of 

 twelve or fifteen feet from the bank, swam ashore. They swam powerfully and 

 swiftly, for the current is here quite strong, and would otherwise have carried them 

 some distance down stream. Next to water courses, the borders of hard- wood 

 groves are the favorite haunts of the silver-haired bats. By standing close under 

 the edge of the trees one sees many that at a little distance would pass unobserved. 

 While searching for their insect prey they may be seen to dart in and out among 

 the branches, and to penetrate, in various directions, the thick mass of foliage over- 

 head. They often pass within a few inches of one's face, and yet it is rare that a 

 sound is heard from their delicate wings. In the early dark the silver-haired bat 

 emerges from its hiding place ; after a few turns about the immediate neighbor- 

 hood, it generally takes a pretty direct course for water. I have seen it start from 

 the summit of a high, densely wooded hill, circle around for a few minutes, and 

 then, keeping far above the tree tops, sail leisurely toward a distant river till lost 

 from sight in the valley below. And, standing on the banks of the large stream 

 that winds along the foot of the hill, I have seen the bats flying over at a height 

 of several hundred feet, all moving in the same direction toward a more distant 

 river. Whether it remains abroad all night, or limits itself to comparatively brief 

 excursions in evening and early morning, can only be conjectured. I am inclined 

 to favor the latter view, for the reason that the greater number always disappear 

 before the darkness becomes sufficiently intense to hide them from sight. ' ' 



We may conclude this somewhat long account of the genus Vesperugo (which 

 is, however, short in comparison with the extent of the genus) by mentioning that 

 there are three species which differ from all the rest in having only a single pair of 

 incisors in the upper jaw. These species are V. schliefenii, of Africa, V. dormeri, 

 of Southern India, and V. parvulus, of Central America. 



THE HOARY BAT AND RED BAT 

 Genus Atalapha 



Omitting all mention of two genera of bats (Chalinolobus and Nycticejus) 

 unknown in Europe, our next representatives of the family Vespertilionidcz will be 

 two species of a genus known as Atalapha, which is confined to the New World. 

 All these bats have only a single pair of upper incisor teeth ; the number of in- 

 cisors in both jaws being , and the cheek-teeth either f or f , so that the total 

 number of teeth is 32 or 30. They are also characterized by the membrane be- 

 tween the legs being more or less hairy ; and by the expansion and inward curvature 

 of the extremity of the tragus of the ear. 



