OF SELBORNE. 



159 



it distinctly, more than once, put out its short leg while 

 on the wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver some- 

 what into its mouth. If it takes any part of its prey 

 with its foot, as I have now the greatest reason to 

 suppose it does these chafers, I no longer wonder at 

 the use of its middle toe, which is curiously furnished 

 with a serrated claw. 





THE GOATSUCKER. 



Swallows and martins, the bulk of them I mean, have 

 forsaken us sooner this year than usual ; for, on Sep- 



British writers until very recently) and of the long-eared bat. A not 

 unfrequent name for it, indicative of its superiority of size over the pipis- 

 trelle, is the rat-bat. 



By this enumeration of the indigenous species some idea will have been 

 obtained of the variations in form and developement of the curious struc- 

 ture within the ear referred to by the author, as they occur in the genus 

 Vespertilio, to an extent so great as almost to afford characters for the 

 distinction of every species. In Plecotus the tragus is also developed to 

 an extent proportioned to the exceeding amplitude of the ears themselves. 

 In Barbastellus it also exists in a marked degree. In the horse-shoe bats 

 no such appendage is present; although in many exotic genera the 

 additional leaflet of the ear coexists with that which is superadded to the 

 nose. E.T. B. 



