242 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the only two species in the localities where we observed it with 
which it could be confounded. 
Its flight when feeding was by no means rapid, though on 
leaving one tree for another at a little distance it flew much 
faster, though never so rapidly as the Pipistrelle or high-flying 
Noctule. 
So far as could be ascertained without actual examination of 
the prey captured, its food appeared to consist principally of 
small Diptera and Micro-lepidoptera, which it captured not only 
on the wing, but snatched off the leaves on the outside branches 
of the trees with great dexterity. Just as a dog will “bolt” a 
rabbit and catch it before it has gone many yards, so this Bat 
would disturb a small moth and seize it within a few inches of 
the leaf or twig on which it had. been resting. An entry in an 
old note-book reminds us of a particular day in autumn (Aug. 24) 
when we watched one of these Bats, at 3 p.m., flying round an 
almost leafless oak, much slower than a Pipistrelle, and at a 
lower elevation. On another occasion we watched one for some 
time hawking for flies round an old pollard ash, quite early in 
the afternoon, while the sun was still shining. Its dexterity was 
remarkable, and as we called to mind the well-known lines in 
Collins’s ‘‘ Ode to Evening,” — 
‘** Now air is hush’d, save where the weak-eyed Bat 
With short shrill shriek flits by on leathern wing,” 
we were forced to the conclusion that the poet had hardly done 
justice to its powers of vision. The “short shrill shriek” 
admirably describes its vocal effort, and no better verb than “flit” 
could be found to describe its movements on the wing; but for 
“ weak-eyed ” we should prefer “ keen-eyed,” as depicting more 
truthfully its really marvellous powers of sight. Indeed, were it 
not gifted with excellent vision it would scarcely be able to get a 
living by the chase of small and active insects on the wing. 
Its usual abode by day is preferably the hole of a tree, often 
in a wood, being what may be termed a woodland species ;* but 
it has also been taken from the rafters of a cottage (Bell’s edition 
of White’s ‘ Selborne,’ i. p. 84); from a hole in a bridge, four feet 
above the water’s edge (Zool. 1853, p. 4012); from a hole in a 

* Bats have their peculiar haunts, like birds; the Pipistrelle haunts the 
neighbourhood of houses, and the Barbastelle loves water. 
