1936] 



MAMMALS OF OREGON 



385 



Distribution and habitat. These large gray bats, from a breeding 

 range across the northern United States and Canada and south in 

 the boreal mountain forests, migrate in the fall to the low valleys 

 and the southern border of the United States and thus cover, at one 

 season or another, a large part of the continent. They undoubtedly 

 occur over all of Oregon as the few records carry them across the 

 State (fig. 100). 



General habits. Unlike any other species of Oregon bat, these 

 beautiful, big, soft-furred animals hang themselves up during the 

 day in the foliage of trees, usually in dense leafy masses near the 

 tips of drooping branches where head downward with folded wings 

 they sleep until the twi- 

 light begins, then on 

 strong wings fly rapidly 

 among the treetops in 

 search for food. Their 

 large size, light color, and 

 short ears afford easy 

 recognition marks, even 

 on the wing. 



On July 8, 1914, Luther 

 J. Goldman shot one of 

 these big bats at Lost 

 Creek, 10 miles east of 

 McKenzie Bridge on the 

 west slope of the Cas- 

 cades. It was a male and 

 apparently the first record 

 of the species for the State. On October 18, 1917, M. E. Peck col- 

 lected a female at Salem where at that season it may well have been 

 a migrant. On October 9, 1924, Alex Walker collected a female 

 near Tillamook. 



On June 15, 1915, in a canyon on the east slope of Disaster Peak, 

 near the southeastern corner of the State, Preble found one of these 

 bats hanging from a leafy twig of aspen about 8 feet from the 

 ground, the branch being grasped by both hind feet about 1% inches 

 apart, the palms opposite. It was collected for a specimen and 

 proved to be an adult male. Another large bat seen flying higher 

 up the slope the previous evening was thought to be the same species. 

 Three days later he collected another male on Crooked Creek, 22 

 miles southwest of Kome, where it had evidently been spending the 

 day in a grove of poplars near the ranch. About a month later 

 he reported seeing several others among the large cottonwoods 

 around a ranch near Watson farther down the Owyhee Eiver. They 

 did not leave their leafy retreats, however, until so late in the even- 

 ing that it was too dark for successful bat shooting, and no specimens 

 were secured, although at least three individuals were recognized 

 on the wing. 



Stanley G. Jewett, Jr., reports the capture of a hoary bat in east 

 Portland on September 14, 1930. It was found hanging in a Persian 

 (English) walnut tree near the sidewalk on a well-traveled street 

 in the residential section of the city and about 8 feet above the 



7209 36 25 



FIGURE 100. Range of the hoary bat, Nycteris rtnerea, 

 in Oregon. 



