BATS. 45 



as they want a constant supply of fresh mice ; whereas 

 the young of the brown owl will eat indiscriminately 

 all that is brought ; snails, rats, kittens, puppies, 

 magpies, and any kind of carrion or offal. 



The house-martins have eggs still, and squab 

 young. The last swift I observed was about the 

 21st of August ; it was a straggler. 



Redstarts, fly-catchers, white-throats, and reguli 

 non cristati, still appear ; but I have seen no black- 

 cape lately. 



I forgot to mention, that I once saw in Christ 

 Church College quadrangle, in Oxford, on a very 

 sunny warm morning, a house martin flying about, 

 and settling on the parapet, so late as the 20th of 

 November. 



At present, I know only two species of bats, 

 the common vespertilio murinus, and the vespertilio 

 auribus.* 



I was much entertained last summer with a tame 

 bat, which would take flies out of a person's hand. 

 If you gave it any thing to eat, it brought its wings 

 round before the mouth, hovering and hiding its 

 head in the manner of birds of prey when they feed. 

 The adroitness it shewed in shearing off the wings 

 of the flies, which were always rejected, was worthy 

 of observation and pleased me much. Insects 

 seemed to be most acceptable, though it did not 

 refuse raw flesh when offered; so that the notion, 

 that bats go down chimneys and gnaw men's bacon, 

 seems no improbable story. While I amused my- 

 self with this wonderful quadruped, I saw it several 



* Dr. Fleming, in his Description of British Animals, 1828, 

 enumerates sevan species included in the genera rhinolophus, 

 or those having membranes upon the nose ; vespertilio^ includ- 

 ing our common bat; and plecotus, those with large ears. 

 W. J. 



