COMMON BAT, OR PIPISTRELLE. 1Q7 



ing twilight ; and reposes through the day in the 

 corners and crevices of old buildings, towers, and 

 steeples. As its food consists entirely of insects, and 

 especially the nocturnal Lepidoptera, it is forced by 

 the increasing cold of winter to relinquish its pur- 

 suits, and betake itself to some secure retreat in a 

 ruined building or cavern, where it remains until the 

 returning heat arouses it from its torpor. In this 

 state it is found suspended by its hind feet in chim- 

 neys, crevices, or corners, or jammed into a hole or 

 fissure. A frequent place of retirement is under the 

 roofs of houses, and especially of churches ; but it 

 presents great variety in its selection ; and I have 

 obtained specimens from the hollow of a decayed 

 tree near Duddingston. 



The Pipistrelle rises with facility from a flat sur- 

 face, is capable of advancing on the ground with 

 considerable celerity, and ascends a vertical plane 

 provided it be somewhat rough, without much diffi- 

 culty. In confinement, it feeds on flies and raw 

 meat. 



A specimen, in the British Museum, said to ex- 

 hibit all the characters of a young individual, has 

 been described by Dr Leach, in the first volume of 

 the Zoological Journal, as a distinct species, under 

 tho name of Vcspertilio pyymccus* 



