144 ANIMAL SKETCHES. CHAP. 



in all, I believe, including occasional visitants. First we 

 may place the long-eared bat, the great ears of which are 

 fully three-quarters of the length of the head and body, 

 while the earlet, representing the little rounded lobe in 

 front of the orifice of the human ear, is nearly one-fourth 

 of the creature's length. The barbastelle has ears of more 

 moderate size, but so arranged that they almost surround 

 the little bead-like eyes. His short, blunt muzzle gives 

 him the aspect of a most determined little bat. Perhaps 

 the commonest spe.cies is the pipistrelle, in which the 

 outer margin of the ear instead of curving round the eye 



PIPISTRELLE. 



weeps round so as nearly to meet the outer margin of the 

 mouth. Another species, the noctule, is quite a little giant 

 among our flittermice, its head and body measuring nearly 

 three inches in length ! and the spread of its wings 

 (which are long and narrow, for the noctule is a high-flyer 

 and a swallow among bats) reaching to some fourteen 

 inches. The head is broad ; the eyes far apart. A female 

 noctule caught by Mr. Daniel gave birth to a little, hairless, 

 blind batlet, which she received into the cup-like cavity 

 of the interfemoral membrane, and tended with the utmost 

 care, wrapping it in the mantle of her wings. 



