36 FAUNA OF SHROPSHIRE 



LONG-EARED BAT. Bats are generally regarded by 

 Plecotus auritus. country folk with feelings of super- 



stitious dread or aversion, perhaps 

 because they are creatures of the night. They are, how- 

 ever, not only harmless but very useful animals, as they 

 perform, by night, the work done by the swallows, etc. 

 during the day catching insects on the wing. There 

 is no doubt that were they not kept in check by bats, 

 many of the smaller moths would multiply unduly and 

 their larvae, or caterpillars, do an immense amount of 

 damage. It is true the caterpillars are eaten in large 

 numbers by various birds, but the adult insects are only 

 abroad during the night when there are few birds to 

 prey on them. It is then that the bats come forth to 

 " act the policeman." Of the eleven species of Bat 

 recognised as British, only six are known to occur in 

 Shropshire, and, of these, the Long-eared Bat is the 

 most numerous. The very large ears as long as the 

 body are so remarkable, that no one can possibly mis- 

 take this for any other kind of bat, It is very gregarious, 

 and during the day goes to roost in groups of a dozen or 

 more in crevices in rocks, old buildings, bridges, in the 

 roofs of houses, and sometimes in holes in trees. It 

 invariably sleeps suspended by its hind toes, head down- 

 wards. About dusk the bats may be seen leaving their 

 hiding places in a long procession, and they return in the 

 same way about dawn. The Winter sleep of this Bat 

 is a long one, generally lasting without interruption 

 from early Autumn to late in the Spring. When at rest the 

 long ears are doubled backwards and laid along the sides 

 of the head and shoulders, and the small-pointed tragus, 

 or inner ear, stands out so conspicuously that it looks just 



