BATS. 119 



followers and imitators, in spite of the advantage of fresh 

 discoveries and modern information. 



At this distance of years, it is not in my power to recollect 

 at what periods woodcocks used to be sluggish or alert, when 

 I was a sportsman ; but, upon my mentioning this circumstance 

 to a friend, he thinks he has observed them to be remarkably 

 listless against snowy foul weather : if this should be the case, 

 then the inaptitude for flying arises only from an eagerness 

 for food, as sheep are observed to be very intent on grazing 

 against stormy wet evenings. 



LETTER XLVL 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



September, 1771. 



DEAR SIR, The summer through, I have seen but two of 

 that large species of bat which I call vespertilio altivolans, 

 from its manner of feeding high in the air. I procured one 

 of them, and found it to be a male, and made no doubt, as 

 they accompanied together, that the other was a female ; but, 

 Happening in an evening or two to procure the other likewise, 

 I was somewhat disappointed when it appeared to be also of 

 the same sex. This circumstance, and the great scarcity of 

 this sort, at least in these parts, occasions some suspicions in 

 my mind whether it is really a species, or whether it may not 

 be the male part of the more known species, one of which 

 may supply many females, as is known to be the case in sheep, 

 and some other quadrupeds. But this doubt can only be 

 cleared by a farther examination, and some attention to the 

 sex, of more specimens. All that I know at present is, that 

 my two were amply furnished with the parts of generation, 

 much resembling those of a boar. 



In the extent of their wings, they measured fourteen inches 

 and an half, and four inches and an half from the nose to the 

 tip of the tail : their heads were large, their nostrils bilobated, 

 their shoulders broad and muscular, and their whole bodies 

 fleshy and plump. Nothing could be more sleek and soft 

 than their fur, which was of a bright chestnut colour ; their 

 maws were full of food, but so macerated, that the quality 

 could not be distinguished ; their livers, kidneys, and hearts, 

 were large, and their bowels covered with fat. They weighed 

 each, when entire, full one ounce and one drachm. Within 

 the ear, there was somewhat of a peculiar structure, that I did 



