Whitaker: The Flight of Bats. 351 



a pebble which has commenced to fall, and will dash after it at 

 such a speed as to overtake it, not merely before it reaches the 

 ground, but actually before it has fallen many feet. 



I make use of an ordinary fisherman's landing"-net, made of 

 macrama thread of about half-inch mesh, fitted to a handle of 

 bamboo cane about eight feet long, to catch bats when they are 

 flying- The Noctule flies at such a terrific speed when swooping, 

 that one I recently netted not only broke and absolutely 

 splintered the wing bone between the shoulder and elbow, but 

 so stunned itself that it was unconscious for some time. The 

 combined force of its own velocity and the speed of my stroke 

 caused it to hit the meshes of the net with such violence as 

 almost to knock it out of my hand. It really felt like catching 

 a heavy stone in the net. 



The Noctule drinks when flying by dipping in the water. 

 It will sometimes fly at quite a low altitude over water, 

 especially late in the evening. It comes abroad occasionally on 

 nights which are quite windy, and may then be seen at its 

 usual elevation beating slowly up against the wind for a 

 distance and then sweeping quickly back, and repeating the 

 process. It appears to face the wind when looking out for food 

 on such occasions. Gentle rain does not deter it from flying, 

 nor smart showers of short duration, but it does not seem to 

 come out on really Avet nights. It appears on the wing first 

 about the middle of April, and flies on favourable nights from 

 then until the latter part of September. In late autumn it 

 occasionally flies in the daytime. 



Almost all writers are in error on one point ; they state that 

 the Noctule flies during the evening twilight, and then retires 

 to its hiding-place until the following evening. This is not the 

 case. On the 20th of July, 1906, I stationed myself under 

 a beech tree in Stainbrough Park, wherein was a hole some 

 fourteen feet up inhabited by a small colony of these creatures 

 (see Plate XXVII., fig. 3). 



After considerable squeaking and shuffling in the hole, they 

 commenced to emerge at 8-45, and by 9-3 fifteen Noctules had 

 taken their characteristic ' header ' from the hole, risen at once 

 to a considerable height, and flown away. I ascended to the 

 hole and found it untenanted, but still quite hot from the heat 

 of the little creatures' bodies. 



The first Noctule returned to the vicinity of the tree about 

 10 o'clock, but they did not seem to enter the hole at once upon 

 their return, but wheeled around the tree, flying quite low and 



1906 October i. 



