380 Whihikcr : The FliirJit of Bats. 



the New Forest, flyinj^ in the shelter of the cliffs on the sea- 

 coast, fluttering' up and down the outbuildings of some isolated 

 farm high on our Yorkshire hills, skimming between the high 

 hedges of a coutry lane, or hunting for its living over the open 

 fields. Over the smallest pond it may be seen flying, or skirting- 

 the edge of large reservoirs or lakes, flying busily backwards 

 and forwards up and down the village street, or making a home 

 near some dirty little reservoir or garden even in the middle of 

 a town or city. 



Sometimes Pipistrelles will fly so close to an observer, 

 especially when they happen to be passing under some tree 

 beneath which he is stationed, that he can easily hear the soft 

 rippling noise of their wings, and actually feel the cool draught 

 from their fluttering on his face. At such times the soft, 

 chattering noise which this bat produces in addition to its usual 

 chittering and somewhat querulous sounding squeak, may be 

 most plainly heard. 



The flight of the Pipistrelle is longer than that of the 

 Noctule, for although it makes its appearance some twenty 

 minutes later, it certainly almost always continues flying for 

 forty or fifty minutes after the Noctules have retired. I do not 

 think it flies all night, but it certainly reappears again at dawn, 

 and i have netted specimens at 3 a.m. A keeper in the New 

 Forest, whose house roof is inhabited by a large colony of bats 

 of this species, tells me that at dawn they may always be seen 

 fluttering about and twittering around the bedroom windows. 



As the Noctule may be confounded with Leisler's Bat, so 

 thtf Pipistrelle may easily be confounded with the Whiskered 

 Bat when flying. I must confess that after careful observation I 

 can never feel certain which species I am watching. The 

 Whiskered Bat {Myofis mys/icinns) is not nearly so common as 

 the Pipistrelle, but is still far from rare. It comes out about 

 the same time in the evening — perhaps a trifle later — and 

 continues its flight a little longer into the niglil than that 

 species. It flies at about the same altitude, but is slightly more 

 direct and less fluttering in its style of flight, and it is certainly 

 much more partial to the vicinity of water, to which it seems to 

 repair at once on its emergence, and over or near which it flies. 

 I have netted many specimens at various times, but all have 

 been taken as I stood near the margin of some pond, reservoir, 

 pool or stream. 



The evening flight of Daubenton's Hat {Myo/is liaKbcutoni) 

 is almost unmistakaljle, and it cannot well be confounded with 



Naturalist, 



