7706 Birds. 



a little inifiht be wiiiten of ibese mailers here ; but ihe title aflSxed to ibis — a para- 

 graph for the ' Zoolosist,' suggested by Dr. Kinahau's paper (Zml. 7617) on the bats 

 of Clare — confines the present notice to two species of VespertilionidaR, and to a 

 localiiy in which they are to be met wiih iu numbers. Bats are wide spread ; but 

 their economy, from their nocturnal flight and the whole of their lives being spent in 

 darkness, is but little known. Even the slightest contribution to the history of their 

 habits will, it is huped, not be unacceptable. It had for some time been known that 

 the roof of the church of Peierculter, or more correctly that part of the roof which 

 extends from the slates to the lath and plaster of the ceiling, and upwards of six feet 

 high in the middle, was the haunt of bats. A recent ascent was made to this domicile, 

 when a hundred and fifty or two hundred bats were found hanging, chiefly in clusters. 

 At least two species congregate there — the long-eated bat {Plecotus auritus of Bell's 

 'British Animals'), and a smaller one (most likely Vtspertilio pipistrellus of the 

 same treatise). The numbers of tlie former somewhat preponderated. Each species 

 clustered by itself; no mixture of the two was observed. Individuals were seen, in 

 some instances, hanging alone, or occasionally two or three together, but always of the 

 same species. They did not seem to be much disconcerted by the light of a candle, 

 and were easily taken with the hand, one of the invaders carrying ofi" several in his 

 cap and pockets, soon In be set free again, a privilege of which they readily availed 

 themselves, the larger species rising easily on the wing, after a very short scramble, 

 from a flat surface. The power of the smaller species to do so was not observed or 

 tried at the time. The colour of two or three of the long-eared species, in their rusty 

 white fur, had a well-marked difference, in its lighter tint, from the mass. Their bite 

 is more dreaded than dangerous. The temperature was high, and sufficient to make 

 the blood and nervous influence circulate with the greatest force ; yet their teeth 

 scarcely abraded the scarf-skin of the finders. Low in the walls, and at each end of 

 this long and narrow apartment where the bats dwell, there is an air-hole or opening, 

 two or three inches in diameter, cut in the well-known gray granite of the district. 

 They are used by the bats for their exit and entrance. Immediately under these 

 holes there are lengthened mounds of dibris, showing that on their leaving or entering 

 their abode the bats drop their foeces, and the quantity indicates a long possession by 

 numbers. The church of Peterculier is about beiiig repaired. It is to be hoped, for 

 the sake of the rising school of Natural History in Aberdeen, as well as for the sake 

 of preserving so many animals nselul in destroying myriads of insect vermin, that the 

 worthy heritors will not allow architect or craftsman lo dispute or interfere with this 

 now prescriptive right of occupancy held by the colony in the upper regions of that 

 substantial fabric. — George Gordon ; Biniie by Elgin, Avgust 17, 1861. 



Birds of Shetland. — I have, unfortunately, little to add to the list of the birds of 

 Shetland. A roan was reported to have the skins of three rare birds shot in North 

 Unst, and I visited them, in the hopes of discovering some prize ; but the possessor, 

 having already promised them (and even their reversion), was unwilling to display 

 them, and said he had promised not to do so. At last, however, his conscience 

 allowed him to let his daughter show them to us, he standing by ; and from the cur- 

 sory examination 1 could thus make I believe the three were the pomerine skua, the 

 hawk owl, and the goshawk. Mr. Gatherer, of Lerwick, also informed me that the 



