VARIOUS BRITISH BATS 85 



PIPISTEELLE BAT ( Vesperugo pipistrellus). 

 Coloured Plate IV. Fig. 2. 



The Pipistrelle Bat is by far the commonest in the British 

 Isles, being more frequently in evidence, if only because it 

 hibernates for only three months of the year. It is also less 

 strictly nocturnal in its habits than some of its kind, for it 

 may sometimes be seen indulging in a few fly-catching 

 flights in the middle of the day during brilliant sunlight. It 

 is not a rarity, though unusual, for it to appear at mid-day 

 even in winter, urged probably by hunger to hunt for what 

 must assuredly prove a very scanty meal. 



The Pipistrelle is perhaps more like a mouse than almost 

 any other species. In size it is about the equal of the tiny 

 quadruped, and its body is covered with fur similar in 

 texture and in colour, with the addition of a tinge of red. 

 Its ears almost exactly resemble those of a mouse. 



Other British Bats are less known except in the localities 

 they frequent. The Barbastelle Bat (Synotus barbastellus), 

 Plate VI. Fig. 2, is very largely restricted to the South- 

 eastern counties. It differs prominently from some of the 

 tribe in the possession of tufts of black bristles whiskers on 

 the cheeks of its black face. The Whiskered Bat (Vespertilio 

 mystacinus), met with in Hampshire and adjacent counties, 

 has its face thickly overgrown with fur. Reference has 

 been made to the membraneous expansion of the nose in 

 some species. The Greater Horseshoe Bat (Plate VII. 

 Fig. 2) and the Lesser Horseshoe Bat have a nose leaf in the 

 form of a horseshoe, but otherwise their appearance and 

 their general habits call for no further mention. 



MOUSE-COLOURED BAT (Vespertilio murinus}. 

 Coloured Plate IV. Fig. 4. 



The Mouse-Coloured Bat is two inches in length, 

 exclusive of the tail, and is the largest Bat in Central 

 Europe. It is a short-eared species, which are far more 



