62 VESPERTILIONID^. 



wings ; it may, indeed, be said to vibrate, rather than fly, 

 over the surface of the water. It could not well fly in 

 any other manner so near the surface without often 

 striking it, and this it seldom, or perhaps never, does, 

 although it often pauses to dip its nose into the water, 

 whether to drink or pick up some floating food, we have 

 been unable to ascertain. The Daubenton's Bat is, we 

 suspect, rather an abundant species in the middle parts 

 of England, at least it is plentiful in some parts of 

 Warwickshire. We have sometimes seen these Bats so 

 thick on the Avon, near to Stratford, that at certain 

 spots there could not have been fewer than one to every 

 square yard, and this abundance has extended over a 

 very considerable space. It resorts indiscriminately to 

 buildings or trees during the day, though we think the 

 preference is given to the former. On one occasion we 

 received a great number, which had been taken by some 

 workmen from a grove of old oaks near to Alcester. 

 Some of the trees were literally filled with these Bats 

 exclusively, while in other trees in the same grove, but 

 in a different part of it, the Noctule was equally abun- 

 dant. A few miles from Alcester is Coughton Court, 

 an ancient seat of the Throckmorton family, near to 

 which passes a small stream called the Arrow, and in the 

 grounds around the mansion is a chain of deep and 

 dismal-looking ponds, overhung by alder and other 

 moisture-loving trees. This is just the kind of haunt 

 for the present species, and here it abounds. In the roof 

 over a room in one of the outbuildings, their excrement 

 has been seen lying on the ceiling an inch or two in thick- 

 ness, every crevice overhead being crammed with Bats. 



The following notes of a Bat-hunting expedition to 

 the church of Stratford-on-Avon, will be interesting as 

 further illustrating the habits of this species : — 



