84 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



Its colour is a light reddish-brown inclining to 

 gray on the upper parts, and grayish-white tinged 

 with brown on the lower. It measures some 

 nine and a half inches across the wings. 



The mouse-coloured bat, which Jardine states 

 to have been found in one place only in Britain, 

 viz., the gardens of the British Museum, is the 

 largest of our bats, measuring fifteen inches across 

 the wings. The upper parts of the body are of 

 a reddish-brown, the lower of a dirty yellowish- 

 white. From its rarity, and the position of the 

 locality in which it was found, I should be inclined 

 to suppose that it must have been brought to this 

 country from abroad in some packing-cases or 

 articles of a similar description, and so can hardly 

 be considered as a British bat. 



There is apparently but one recorded instance 

 of Bechstein's bat having been found in Britain. 

 Jardine thus describes it : * The fur reddish-gray 

 or yellowish-gray above, whitish-gray beneath, 

 and eleven inches when measured across the 

 wings.' 



The serotine bat, a rare variety in Britain, has 

 been found only in the neighbourhood of London. 

 This bat has also been doubtless brought from 

 the Continent, where it is stated to be common. 

 This, the hairy-armed and the parti-coloured 

 bat, is so exceedingly rare that I do not con- 

 sider it within the scope of this work to refer 

 to it, other than as being included in the list 

 of British bats, because specimens have been 



