202 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



dozen kinds are spread all over the Northern 

 States and southern Canada, some regularly 

 migrating southward in winter and returning 

 in spring like birds. 



The commonest ones are the little brown bat, 

 which is glossy brown above and paler below; 

 the very similar, but more southern pipistrelle ; 

 the silvery bat, whose fur is dark brown with 

 white tips ; and the rusty or foxy- gray red bat. 

 All these are small (3.4 to 4.4 in. long). A 

 larger dark brown kind, the Carolina bat (4.6 

 in.) is common in all the Southern States; 

 while the North has the big hoary bat (5.4 in. 

 long, grizzled above, white below), a long- 

 winged, swift-flying denizen of forests, rarely 

 seen and a winter migrant. Other species are 

 locally well known in California and along tlie 

 Mexican border, especially the little " free- 

 tailed" Texan bat (Nyctinomus), which repre- 

 sents a tropical group in which the tail is free 

 from the membrane stretched between the hind 

 legs. 



All these bats are similar in habits, sleeping 

 in some dark and sheltered place during the 

 day, and hibernating more or less completely 



