40 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The Red-grey Bat shares the Whiskered Bat's partiality for 

 wooded districts, where it may often be seen in numbers, even 

 before sunset. Unlike the last-named species it is both sociable 

 and gregarious, and its daytime retreat in holes in walls, hollow 

 trees, and caverns, is shared with Bats of its own and other 

 species. It flies low, with a slow, steady flight, and often picks 

 flies and small moths off leaves and twigs. When so engaged 

 like the Whiskered Bat it may be known from it by its noisy 

 chirping. It will turn somersaults in the air in order to alight 

 by clinging with its feet. 



The solitary young one is born towards the end of June. 



It does not appear to be a generally distributed species even 

 in the South of England. Its range extends from Cornwall 

 and the Isle of Wight to Durham and Norfolk. It also occurs 

 in Wales and various parts of Ireland. In Scotland it has 

 been reported from Argyll, Midlothian, and Montrose. It is a 

 native of Central and Southern Europe, extending north to the 

 south of Sweden. 



Beehstein S Bat (Myotis bechsteinii, Kuhl). 



Bechstein's Bat has a general resemblance to the Red-grey 

 Bat, but is slightly larger, with ears almost twice the breadth of 

 those of that species, and the feet relatively as well as actually 

 larger. Though the skull is larger, it is actually narrower than 

 in that species. The thin ears are relatively larger than those 

 of any European Bat, except the Long-eared Bat, where, how- 

 ever, they are of quite different shape and are connected by their 

 lower margins, whilst here their bases are widely apart. The 

 form of the ear is like that of the Whiskered Bat ; so is the 

 tragus, and the shape of the wings. 



It is covered with soft, woolly fur, which is a greyish-brown 

 on the upper parts and buff-grey below. The membranes are 

 dark brown ; that of the wing arises from the base of the 



