9 2 BRITISH MAMMALS 



the forehead is a tuft or crest of rather long hair, which gives 

 a lofty appearance to the head. 



The fur of the pipistrelle is long and silky, and is in general 

 reddish-brown in the upper parts, fading into gray on the belly, a 

 gray tinged with brown, however, owing to the tips of the hairs 

 being chestnut. The reddish-brown lightens into a yellowish 

 tint on the forehead and round the ears. The naked parts of 

 the muzzle and ears and the flying membranes are a dusky tint, 

 sometimes a blackish flesh-colour. The young of this, as of so 

 many other species of Vespertiliomdce^ are born naked, and the first 

 hair they acquire is of a much grayer, duskier tone than the 

 warm brown or reddish-yellow tints of the full-grown animal. 



The pipistrelle would appear to breed later in the year than 

 the noctule, females being generally taken with young in the 

 month of July. So far as is known, the common bat only has 

 one young one at a time. It is asserted, however, that the Con- 

 tinental form of the pipistrelle, as of the noctule, produces two 

 young at a birth, and certainly this fact was recorded by Pliny. 



The pipistrelle hibernates for two or three months in the 

 middle of the winter, though it may occasionally emerge from its 

 retreat on a sunny winter's day. Its hibernating sleep seems rather 

 to depend on the absence of insect life in the air than on tempera- 

 ture, for although the pipistrelle may appear in flight in the 

 middle of March, it only emerges then because insects likewise 

 have come out into the air. It does not frequent trees like the 

 noctule, but retires during the daytime and during its hibernation 

 to crevices in walls, and nooks and crannies in roofs, rocks, 

 and caverns. It will sometimes crawl into the spouts of disused 

 pumps. During the summer-time it often passes its midday 

 sleep in the vicinity of farmyards, no doubt because in the 

 evening it can whisk about such cattle as may be sleeping in 

 the fields, and snap up the flies settled on them. 



The pipistrelle progresses over a horizontal surface at a much 

 quicker rate than most bats, almost seeming to run. It keeps 

 the head depressed and near the ground, and uses the tail as an 

 additional limb for propelling itself. The tail in this animal 



