MAMMALS 



[Bechstein's Bat. Myotis kechsteini, Leisler. 

 Bell Vespertillo becbsteinl. 



On 10 March 1901, while exploring a 

 chalk cave on the Berks side of the Thames, 

 at Park Place near Henley, only about i \ 

 miles from the Bucks border, Messrs. Heatley 

 Noble and J. G. Millais captured six bats. 

 These comprised one long-eared bat, two 

 Natterer's bats, two Daubenton's bats, and 

 one which proved to be a Bechstein's bat. 1 



The first British examples of the species 

 were taken a good many years ago in the 

 New Forest, and are now in the British 

 Museum ; about a dozen examples were 

 found in the same locality by Mr. E. W. H. 

 Blagg in July 1886, one of which was iden- 

 tified by Mr. Oldfield Thomas ; and two 

 examples were obtained at Preston near 

 Brighton. 3 ] 



6. Natterer's Bat. Myotis nattereri, Kuhl. 



Bell Vesfertlllo nattereri. 

 The late Lord Lilford (Zoologist, 1887, 

 p. 64) considered Natterer's bat ' very local,' 

 but stated that it was ' by no means uncom- 

 mon ' in his neighbourhood in Northampton- 

 shire. There is no reason to doubt its occur- 

 rence in Bucks, though I do not know of any 

 specimen being actually obtained ; but as 

 stated under the last species, two examples 

 were obtained within i J miles of the borders 

 of the county, on the Berks side of the 

 Thames near Henley on 10 March 1901 ; 

 and in the Zoologist, 1903, p. 349, this species 

 is recorded from Turvey, Bedfordshire, less 



than a mile from the Bucks border near Ol- 

 ney, where Mr. J.Steele-Elliott saw 'several' 

 and obtained one ; also from Bloxham (about 

 a dozen miles from Bucks) in Oxon, in 

 which county Mr. O. V. Aplin says it ' does 

 not seem to be very uncommon ' ; and from 

 Milford, Surrey (near Godalming), where 

 Mr. G. Dalgliesh obtained a single example. 



7. Daubenton's Bat. 

 Leisler. 



Myotis daubentoni, 



Bell Vesperttllo daubentonii. 

 As with the last species, there is no reason 

 to doubt that Daubenton's bat occurs in 

 Bucks, though I do not know of any specimen 

 having been actually identified ; but as men- 

 tioned under Bechstein's bat, two examples 

 were obtained on the Berks side of the 

 Thames near Henley, about \\ miles from 

 the Bucks border, in March 1901. No doubt 

 it is this species which one so commonly sees 

 on the Thames, flying just above the surface 

 of the water. 



8. Whiskered Bat. Myotis mystacinus, Leisler. 



Bell Vespertilio mystacinus. 

 The whiskered bat may be expected to 

 occur sparingly in Bucks, but I regret that I 

 am again with this species unable to speak 

 with certainty. Bell records it in Northamp- 

 tonshire and Warwickshire, and in Kent. 

 Mr. O. V. Aplin obtained a single example 

 at Bloxham in Oxfordshire in July 1901 

 (Zoologist, 1901, p. 315), and it has also been 

 recorded from Godstow near Oxford. 



INSECTIVORA 



9. Hedgehog. Erlnaceus europieus, Linn. 



Generally distributed and common. Usual 

 food, beetles and worms ; but to some extent 

 destructive to both eggs and young of game 

 birds. That flesh is not their normal food 

 however is shown by the loud champing noise 

 and the slow progress made when eating any- 

 thing of the kind. I once tamed a freshly- 

 caught adult hedgehog in an hour by pouring 

 beer into the concavity resulting from the 

 folding of its two ends on to the underside, 

 as it lay on its back, tightly curled up ; each 

 time that it was forced to uncurl I handled it, 

 and poured in more beer when it curled up 

 again ; until after a few doses of beer alter- 

 nating with handling, it became too intoxi- 

 cated to curl up any more ! From that time 

 forwards it always allowed me to handle it 



1 Proc. Zoo/. Sac. 1901, ii. 216. 



1 Zoologist, 1887, p. 162; 1888, p. 260. 



freely without rolling up. One only, out of 

 the many I have kept, was ferocious, and if 

 a finger was held out to him, he would at 

 once fly at it and seize it, and allow himself 

 to be held in the air for a long while before 

 letting go. Hedgehogs are seldom abroad 

 during the daytime, but are lively after dusk. 

 Indeed the few that I have seen about in 

 broad daylight appeared to be invalids, and 

 swarming with fleas ; but whether the fleas 

 were the cause or the effect of the indisposi- 

 tion I cannot say. They lie up in hedge- 

 bottoms, or any little hollow in a wood that 

 is dry, and where they can hide under dead 

 leaves or dry grass. Hedgehogs hibernate 

 partially or imperfectly ; that is to say for un- 

 certain periods, up to perhaps a month at a 

 time. I have known hedgehogs breed in April ; 

 also between mid August and mid September ; 

 they are therefore either irregular in their 

 breeding season, or more likely have two, or 



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