60 OBSERVATIONS ON QUADRUPEDS. 



Sarbastelle.On the 17th of April, 1829, 1 took an 

 individual of this rare bat in the garden at Bottis- 

 ham Hall, whilst on wing.* It was a male, and fly- 

 ing in the middle of the day, about noon. I remem- 

 ber once or twice before to have seen a bat on wing 

 in mid-day near the same place, which I judged at 

 the time, by its manner of flight and superior size, to 

 be different from the common sort, and which may 

 possibly have been referable to this species. Is it a 

 common habit with the barbastelle thus to come 

 abroad in open day ?f The flight of this individual 

 was slow, and near the ground. It is worthy of note 

 that this bat, when in hand, was perfectly free from 

 any bad odour ; wherein it differs remarkably from the 

 noctule and the pipistrelle, both which, but espe- 

 cially the former, are peculiarly rank and foetid. 

 



* The barbastelle has since been met with in other parts of 

 England in several instances : in Epping Forest, Mr. Doubleday 

 is inclined to believe that it is not uncommon. See The 

 Zoologist, p. 6. 



t Other observers have occasionally noticed bats flying during 

 the day. See The Zoologist, pp. 6 and 35. In one of the 

 cases here referred to, "a large bat " is said to have been seen 

 " sailing about most majestically, one sunny day in August, on 

 Wimbledon Common." In the other, "a bat of the smaller 

 species" was observed on wing, "on the llth of November, at 

 half-past three o'clock, in the wide part of the Borough (South- 

 wark)." This last was probably the pipistrelle ; and, as the sun 

 sets soon after four at the above season, there is nothing, perhaps, 

 so remarkable in the appearance of this species abroad at the 

 hour mentioned. 



In a subsequent part of the above Journal, (p. 75,) other in- 

 stances are mentioned both of the pipistrelle and Daubenton's bat 

 being seen on wing in the middle of the day. The circumstance, 

 therefore, is probably not of uncommon occurrence. 



