CHEIROPTERA, OR BATS 



and, when they are captured, will follow them, and even submit 

 to captivity herself rather than forsake her charge. The voice 

 of the small bats, when irritated, is a sharp chattering sort of squeak ; 

 they bite with much force, and those of considerable age and size 

 can inflict a very severe injury. The " nesting " or breeding places 

 of bats are usually the roofs of buildings, between the slates or 

 tiles and ceiling, and commonly by the eaves, where in one instance 

 of a " nest " in the roof of a pavilion in a public park the wings 

 of lepidopterous insects were swept up from the floor, filling a peck 

 measure, the bodies being consumed by the parents and young of 

 a single " nest." 



FIG. i. BATS: COMMON OR PIPISTRELLE, LEFT HAND; NOCTULE, LOWER- 

 MOST; LONG-EARED, UPPERMOST. 



The British bats are represented by the Insectivorous section of 

 the Cheiroptera or Bat order ; and included in the family of the 

 Vespertilionidae or True Bats, are the species shown in the illus- 

 tration, Fig. i. 



COMMON BAT or PIPISTRELLE (Vespemgo pipistrellus or Vespertilio 

 Pipistrella], Fig. i, left-hand figure. This familiar little bat occurs 

 throughout Britain, and flits about during twilight alongside of 

 woods and in woodland glades, about farmsteads and buildings, 

 in bye-roads and highways, in villages and towns, even visiting the 

 most ornate halls, churches and cathedrals in quest of food, which 



