Moary Bat 
distant horizon and disappears in the darkness below. In breath- 
less suspense you wait for him to rise, crouching low that his 
form may be sooner outlined against the dim light that still 
lingers in the northwest, when he suddenly shoots by, seemingly 
as big as an owl, within a few feet of your very eyes. Turn- 
ing quickly you fire, but too late! He has vanished in the 
darkness. For more than a week each evening is thus spent, 
and you almost despair of seeing another hoary bat, when, per- 
haps on a clear cold night, just as the darkness is becoming 
too intense to permit you to shoot with accuracy and you are 
on the point of turning away, something appears above the 
horizon that sends a thrill of excitement through your whole 
frame. There is no mistaking the species—the size, the sharp, 
narrow wings and the swift flight serve instantly to distinguish 
it from its nocturnal comrades. On he comes, but just before 
arriving within gunshot he makes one of his characteristic zig- 
zag side shoots and you tremble as he momentarily vanishes 
from view. Suddenly he reappears, his flight becomes more 
steady, and now he sweeps swiftly toward you. No time is 
to be lost, and it is too dark to aim, so you bring the gun 
quickly to your shoulder and fire. With a piercing, stridulous 
cry he falls to the earth. In an instant you are stooping to 
pick him up, but the sharp grating screams, uttered with a tone 
of intense anger, admonish you to observe discretion. With 
delight you cautiously take him in your hand and hurry to the 
light to feast your eyes upon his rich and handsome markings. 
He who can gaze upon a freshly killed example without feelings 
of admiration is not worthy to be called a naturalist.” 
To the southward of the Canadian fauna the hoary bat occurs 
only as a migrant during the winter months, early spring and 
late autumn, and it is here, if anything, a rarer sight than in 
its true home to the northward. I have known of specimens 
being secured about Philadelphia, but in spite of many evenings 
spent in looking for it at times, when its occurrence seemed 
most likely, | have never been successful in obtaining a glimpse 
of this interesting bat. 
205 
