BATS. HAWKS. 31 



would take flies out of a person's hand. If you gave it any thing 

 to eat, it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering 

 and hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they 

 feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings of the 

 flies, which were always rejected, was worthy of observation, and 

 pleased me much. Insects seemed to be most acceptable, though 

 it did not refuse raw flesh when offered : so that the notion, that 

 bats go down chimneys and gnaw mens' bacon, seems no impro- 

 bable story. While I amused myself with this wonderful quad- 

 ruped, I saw it several times confute the vulgar opinion, that 

 bats when down on a flat surface cannot get on the wing again, 

 by rising with great ease from the floor. It ran, I observed, 

 with more despatch than I was aware of; but in a most ridiculous 

 and grotesque manner.* 



Bats drink on the wing, like swallows, by sipping the surface 

 as they play over pools and streams. They love to frequent 

 waters, not only for the sake of drinking, but on account of in- 

 sects, which are found over them in the greatest plenty. As I 

 was going, some years ago, pretty late, in a boat from Richmond 

 to Sunbury, on a warm summer's evening, I think I saw myriads 

 of bats between the two places. The air swarmed with them all 

 along the Thames, so that hundreds were in sight at a time. 



LETTER XII. To T. PENNANT, ESQ. 



SIR, November 4, 1767- 



IT gave me no small satisfaction to hear that the falcof turned 

 out an uncommon one. I must confess I should have been 



extent of wing, and is extremely rare in this country. No less than sixteen species may now be 

 obtained in this country. ED. 



* The species of which the above is related is the common bat (vespertilio mwrinws ), which, in 

 confinement, I have often seen eat flies in the manner here specified. At the time of penning 

 this letter Mr. White knew but of two species ; and the vespertilio vlecotus vulgaris (or, as he 

 terms it, vespertilio auribus) I have invariably found to refuse all sustenance when deprived of 

 liberty. The latter is by far the commonest species in Surrey. ED. 



t'This hawk proved to be the falco peregrinus. This noble bird, the peregrine falcon, one of 

 the most typical of birds of prey, is the species which, in the days of falconry, was in most gene- 

 ral request for the pursuit of herons and other large game. It is of rare occurrence in the south- 

 eastern counties of England, but is not uncommon upon the mountainous and rugged districts 

 of the north, nor along the whole range of lofty precipices which bound the west. It may occa- 

 sionally be seen early in the morning in the midst of London, perched upon St. Pauls, or on 

 Westminster Abbey ; but is never noticed in the environs, a very few minutes' flight sufficing to 

 transport it a distance of twenty or thirty miles. ED. 



