LONG-EARED BAT. 89 



manner, which is still more apparent when it crawls 

 on a level surface. It adheres to the slightest as- 

 perities, and retires to the corners of the deserted 

 apartments of old buildings, steeples, and the cre- 

 vices of rocks, where it suspends itself by the hind 

 feet, which are, as in other Bats, eminently adapted 

 for the purpose, the claws being very acute and 

 nearly of equal length. When springing off from 

 a wall, it raises its fore legs first, stretches out its 

 head, and erects its ears, which had been folded 

 down, and it retains them erect when flying. When 

 preparing for repose, it brings the fore feet close to 

 the body, the cubital joint projecting and in con- 

 tact with the knee, incurvates the tail, folds up the 

 /ateral membranes neatly, and brings the ears back- 

 wards, curving them along the side of the head and 

 body, so as to resemble a ram's horn ; the tragus 

 or small anterior appendage projecting forward. Its 

 voice is a low chirping squeak, and when teased or 

 frightened it utters a querulous note, like the wail- 

 ing of a very young child. 



This is one of the most common and most exten- 

 sively distributed of our Bats, being found in most 

 parts of England, and in many places in Scotland. 

 Its winter retreats are the deserted chambers of de- 

 cayed buildings, the interior of steeples or towers, 

 and caverns, where it either clings to the surface, 

 or thrusts itself into a hole or crevice. 



Mr Jenyns has described a specimen found ad- 

 hering to a willow in Grunty Fen in the Isle of 

 Ely,^as a distinct species, to which he gives the 



