98 imiNOLOPHum 



which it occurs, and probably flies higher than the pre- 

 ceding species." 



It is not rare at Cirencester ; and in Warwickshire it 

 has been observed in at least two localities. A single 

 example was taken by us in a loft over a smith's forge, 

 in the village of Welford ; and we found it on another 

 occasion in considerable numbers in the roof of the 

 mansion of the Marquis of Hertford, at Ragley, near 

 Alcester. Amongst the massive timbers supporting the 

 roof of this noble but now neglected residence, once the 

 resort of royalty, are many pieces bearing evidences of 

 former fittings by the augur and chisel, and in these 

 holes a considerable number of the Long-eared Bat were 

 found, chiefly in pairs, but although several of the 

 Horse-shoe Bats were seen flitting in the deep gloom, 

 broken only by an occasional gleam of light through 

 some small crevice, and by our lighted candle, yet a 

 careful search was for some time unrewarded by the 

 discovery of a single individual in its resting-place. A 

 great accumulation of excrement around a huge central 

 stack of chimneys at length attracted attention, and a 

 long stick, thrust upwards in a narrow opening between 

 the chimneys, soon dislodged several of these Bats, which 

 were caught as they descended, and before they were 

 well on the wing, after which pursuit proved useless. 

 Some of these examples being at various times liberated 

 in a room, exhibited extraordinary powers of flight. 

 One of them, turned loose with a Pipistrelle, as noticed 

 in our history of the Greater Horse-shoe Bat, displayed 

 in its search for a means of exit an ability which was 

 quite extraordinary. It literally flew into every part of 

 the room, and behind and under everything, even under 

 a bookcase standing against a wall, although there was 

 scarcely a space of three inches between it and the floor. 



