MISCELLANEOUS. 55 



been observed to devour fish, in one or more in- 

 stances : * on the other hand, the heron, which 

 usually preys on fish, is well satisfied at times 

 with the common water-rat, which, according to 

 Mr. Waterton, it gulps down entire, f Many more 

 such anomalies are probably on record, or might 

 be observed if sought for, in the varying habits 

 of different animals. I will only add here, that 

 though, as is well known, owls and cats usually 

 reject shrews, I have known both occasionally to 

 devour them, especially kittens, which have not 

 as yet had much opportunity of satisfying their 

 appetite for mice. 



BATS. 



THE different species of bats found in this coun- 

 try appear, for the most part, to have each of them 

 their own peculiar place of resort. With us the 

 noctule J and Natterer's bat occur chiefly in trees, 

 but the former sometimes also in houses. All the 

 specimens found by me of the whiskered bat, 1 1 and 

 they have been several, were taken in rooms in 



* See Atkinson's Compendium of the Ornithology of Great 

 Britain, p. 23 ; also several notices in London's Magazine of Nat. 

 Hist., all speaking to the fact of owls eating fish. Instances of 

 the rook and jackdaw feeding on fish will be found mentioned in 

 a subsequent part of this work. For a case of the carrion-crow's 

 doing so, see Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. xv. p. 168. 



t Loud. Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. viii. p. 455. 



J Vesper tilio noctula, Gmel. 



V. nattereri, Kuhl. 



|| V. mystacinus, Leisl. 



