THE HAIRY=ARMED BAT. 
(Vesperugo leisleri). 
ARTHUR WHITAKER, 
Worsbrough Bridge. 
(Continued from page 388). 
Several nights I allowed my two Leisler’s bats to fly in a 
room about twenty feet long and fourteen feet wide, and I 
found they could fly far better in such a confined space than a 
Noctule can. They made a considerable whirring sound when 
flying. They did not attempt to turn in the air when they 
reached the end of the room, but would pitch lightly up against 
the cornice or wall, turning and dropping off again instantly ; 
so quickly, in fact, that they could hardly be said to have 
settled in doing so; it was simply a case of touch and off again. 
Sometimes they would select one particular spot on the cornice 
and pitch on to it time after time in quick succession, taking a 
circular sweep round between each touch. They would not con- 
tinue flying for more than five minutes at a time, and generally 
alighted on the cornice to rest, hanging head downwards. 
When I had had my Leisler’s bats for about a week, I 
decided one evening to allow all my bats to exercise themselves 
at once in this room. At the time I had three Long-Eared, 
two Pipistrelles, and two Lesser Horseshoes, as well as the two 
Hairy-Armed bats. I allowed all these to fly about together 
or rest as they pleased for two or three hours, whilst I sat 
reading, and I observed that they seemed to take very little 
notice of one another. 
When I came to catch them and put them back into their 
several cages I found that one of the Leisler’s was missing. I 
turned the room topsy-turvy, and searched high and low, but 
to no purpose; it seemed to have vanished completely, and I 
never found it again, though I kept the door of the room 
closed as much as possible for several days. It may perhaps 
have succeeded in getting up the chimney, as there was no fire 
in the grate at the time. 
Its companion I continued to keep without difficulty, and it 
made several journeys, going first to Capt. Barrett Hamilton, at 
Arthurstown, in Ireland, then to Dr. Wilson, who was in 
Scotland at the time, and desired to make some drawings of it, 
and subsequently to Mr. Riley Fortune, at Harrogate, who 
took a number of photographs of it, six of which he has very 
1907 December 1. 
