Whitaker: Notes on the Breeding Habits of Bats. 75 
In every one of the nine instances above mentioned, it will 
be noticed that a single young one only was (or would have 
been) produced. This substantially confirms the statement 
often made that in this country it is a rare occurrence for a bat 
to give birth to ‘twins,’ as they are affirmed to do on the 
continent. 
The dates given above indicate that July is the month when 
the majority of bats are born, though it will be noticed in 
the cases of Daubenton’s and the two Noctules, the latter 
part of June was the time. In most cases, I should think, the 
young will not be abie to fly by themselves until the latter part 
of August, but this is more or less conjecture. 
One of the most interesting conclusions to be drawn from 
the above table (see No. 4) is that in the case of the Pipistrelle 
the period of gestation is not less than forty-one days. Although 
the exact period is not ascertained, it is probably about six 
weeks, and this agrees with the only other information we seem 
to have on this point, that given by Mr. G. Daniell (Proc. Zool. 
Soc. 1834), who ascertained that in the case of the Noctule the 
period of gestation exceeded thirty-eight days. Further and 
more definite information on this point is wanted, however. 
Of Nos. (1), (2), {6), and (7) on the above list a full account 
was given in my previous article, and nothing further need be 
said about them. 
The Pipistrelle referred to in No. (3) was never in my own 
possession, but was caught by a lad in Barnsley, who managed to 
knock it down with his cap on the evening of June 30th, whilst 
it was flying. He told me that the bat gave birth to a young 
one sometime during the second night after he obtained it. He 
also stated that on the day following the birth of the young one 
the mother escaped from him whilst he was playing with it in 
the daytime, and crawled up the house wall out of his reach, 
creeping behind the spout, where it remained hidden during the 
day, the newly-born young one being beneath its wing at the 
time. At dusk it came out and commenced to fly about the 
yard, but it flew so heavily and slowly that he re-captured it 
again without difficulty. The following day it again made good 
its escape from a rabbit hutch in which he had placed it, but he 
could see it squeezed in its former position behind the spout, 
and he promised me he would re-capture it at dusk and let me 
have it. Unfortunately, it rained heavily, and the bat did not 
move at all in the evening, but the following morning it was 
missing, and no further traces of it were seen. 
1g0o7 March 1. 
