NOTES ON THE HABITS OF BATS. 
ARTHUR WHITAKER. 
(PLATES II. AND III.). 
In the autumn of 1906 I contributed to The Naturalist a short 
article on bats in which I endeavoured to point out some of 
those characteristics of flight and haunt which enable a care- 
ful observer to recognise the different species he sees on the 
wing with some degree of certainty. Since then I have been 
able to supplement my notes about one or two species. 
Leisler’s bat (N. leisleri) though similar to the Noctule in 
its style of flight, looks very distinctly smaller when seen on 
the wing. It usually flies at a lower altitude than the latter 
species, preferring to keep below the level of the tree tops. 
It appears to feed largely upon moths, and for the purpose of 
catching these will not infrequently wheel round and round 
some tree for a long time. A large ash growing in my own 
garden at Kingwell very often attracts one or two bats of this 
species at dusk. I have often watched them circle round the 
tree fifteen or twenty times in quick succession, catching the 
moths which were hovering and fluttering near the foliage. 
In one case a rather large moth, probably T. pronuba, was 
flying slowly beneath a low branch not more than a yard in 
front of my face when, with a quick downward sweep, it was 
captured by one of these bats. The moth was seized in the 
mouth and the bat ascended with it to a considerable altitude, 
making off in a straight line apparently until the moth was 
consumed, for after flying slowly away for some twenty seconds 
the bat suddenly turned and swept down again to the ash 
tree, round which it recommenced to circle. 
The period of hybernation in this species is probably about 
the same, and subject to similar interruptions owing to the 
vicissitudes of temperature, as in the case of the Noctule. 
On mild evenings, or occasionally afternoons, in late autumn, 
they may not infrequently be seen on the wing. As I write 
this at dusk on the evening of November 6th, I can see from 
my office window one or two bats of this species hawking about 
over the garden and adjoining fields. It was first observed 
on the wing this year on the 3rd of March, when I saw a single 
specimen. The following evening I saw two abroad. The 
weather then became colder and it was not until the end of 
April that I again saw them flying. 
Natterer’s Bat (M. nattereri) might very easily be con- 
founded with Daubenton’s when seen on the wing. Although 
the species occurs very commonly in this district, and 
I have taken many scores from their hiding places at 
different times, I was never able to identify it in its twi- 
1913 Jan. I. 
