144 WOODCOCKS. BATS. 



some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his 

 superiority over his followers and imitators, in spite of the 

 advantage* of fresh discoveries and modern information. 



At this distance of years, it is not in my power to recol- 

 lect at what periods woodcocks used to be sluggish or alert, 

 when I was a sportsman; but, upon my mentioning this 

 circumstance to a friend, he thinks he has observed them 

 to be remarkably listless against snowy, foul weather; if 

 this should be the case, then the inaptitude for flying arises 

 only from an eagerness for food, as sheep are observed to be 

 very intent on grazing against stormy wet evenings. 



LETTER XLVI. 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



September, 1771. 



DEAR SIR, The summer through, I have seen but two of 

 that large species of bat which I call vespertilio altivolans, 

 from its manner of feeding high in the air. I procured 

 one of them, and found it to be a male, and made no 

 doubt, as they accompanied together, that the other was a 

 female ; but happening, in an evening or two, to procure the 

 other likewise, I was somewhat disappointed when it 

 appeared to be also of the same sex. This circumstance, 

 and the great scarcity of this sort, at least in these parts, 

 occasions some suspicions in my mind whether it is really a 

 species, or whether it may not be the male part of the more 

 known species, one of which may supply many females, as is 

 known to be the case in sheep, and some other quadru- 

 peds. But this doubt can only be cleared by a farther 

 examination, and some attention to the sex, of more speci- 

 mens. All that I know at present is, that my two were 

 amply furnished with the parts of generation, much resem- 

 bling those of a boar. 



In the extent of their wings, they measured fourteen 

 inches and a half, and four inches and a half from the nose 

 to the tip of the tail : their heads were large, their nostrils 



