20 CHIROPTERA 



June last I watched one for fully a quarter of an hour flying 

 in the bright sunshine at Broomhall, near Dunfermline, and 

 was much struck with its activity, and the facility with which 

 it evaded stones and other missiles thrown at it. It would 

 appear that it also occasionally travels a considerable dis- 

 tance in search of food, for on 18th September 1884, while 

 waiting for wild-fowl by the sandhills at the mouth of Aber- 

 lady Bay, one flew round me several times. Some of the 

 many examples that have passed through my hands have 

 been decidedly paler than the ordinary form, while one or 

 two have been almost black. Their flight, as observed in my 

 room, is more rapid and erratic than that of the last species, 

 and instead of alighting on the cornice or curtains in an 

 inverted position, they settle with the head uppermost, 

 and as a rule only invert themselves when about to 

 take flight again. 



DAUBENTON'S, OR THE WATER BAT. 

 VESPERTILIO DAUBENTONI Leisl. 



Our knowledge of the distribution of this species in the 

 district is still imperfect, but enough is known to show that 

 it is, at least locally, not uncommon. Under the name of 

 V. marginatus, it was recorded from Fife so long ago as 1828 

 by Fleming (" British Animals," p. 6). During the summer 

 of 1869 I observed a number of Bats flitting over a still reach 

 of the Esk above Penicuik, and one which I succeeded in 

 striking down with a walking-stick proved to be of this species. 

 In the Edinburgh Museum there are three specimens (two 

 adults and a newly-born young one), identified by Mr Eagle 

 Clarke ("Scottish Naturalist," 1891, p. 92), which were taken 

 at The Inch, near Liberton, in July 1880 by Mr T. Speedy, 



