4194 The Zoologist — October, 1874. 



shingle. Geldart told us he had seen no lesser terns about Foulney 

 this spring, as in former years, and we found none when we were 

 there ; from some cause this species of tern is much diminished in 

 numbers on Waluey Island, and has apparently ceased to breed on 



Foulney. 



Henry Durnford, 



Note on the Noetulc Bat. — The following observations on this bat have 

 been made in the parish of Nortbrepps : — On the 31st of July last about a 

 score of large bats, apparently Noctules, were disturbed from a hole in an 

 oak tree, where a pair of green woodpeckers nested in 1872, but none of the 

 bats were captured. On the 17th of September the same hole was again 

 examined, but no bats were in it ; a hole in another oak, excavated by a pair 

 of green woodpeckers in 1873, was next examined : this hole was found to 

 contain nine noctules, which were all caught; of these eight were males 

 and one a female, being the fu"st instance which I have met with of both 

 sexes of this bat being found in the same hole. On the 18th of September 

 a hole in a beech tree, where a pair of starlings nested last spring, was 

 examined, and two female noctules were talccn from it, which appeared to 

 be all that the hole contained, although from its shape this could not be 

 ascertained with entire certainty. The actions of the noctules when awaking 

 from their diurnal sleep at the approach of evening are curious and gi'otesque. 

 They frequently open and shut their mouths for several consecutive seconds 

 •with an exceedingly rapid motion of the lower jaw ; this action is succeeded 

 by the tongue being protruded about the eighth of an inch, and the lips 

 being thus thoroughly licked. "When this is accomplished, a hearty j'awn 

 usually follows, the mouth being opened in the process to its utmost width, 

 and the next employment undertaken is an attack on the small parasitic 

 insects which infest the fur of these bats. The sides of the body are 

 vigorously scratched by a rapid and continuous action of the hind claws, 

 and the head is bent under the body whilst tlie mouth is emj^loyed in active 

 investigation amongst the fur of the under surface. These bats when fully 

 awake usually begin to crawl over one another, a process which generally 

 evokes a stridulous chirping cry from the individuals which compose the 

 lower strata of the cluster. I observe that the noctule when placed upon 

 the level ground is able to take wing from thence apparently without 

 difficulty. — J. H. Gurneij ; Septcmhcr, 1874. 



Accident to a Weasel and to a Redbreast. — In the first week of 

 September a singular accident occurred to a weasel at Keswick, near 

 Norwich, in a garden surrounded by a fence of old split oak palings set on 

 three courses of brickwork. Some men who were at work in the garden 

 about four o'clock in the afternoon heard a singular cry, and on going to 



