384 Northern News. 



adverbs as ' usually ' or ' g-enerally,' for of course no hard and 

 fast rules can be laid down. ' Usually ' the swift is a high- 

 flying- bird, yet they may occasionally, very occasionally, be 

 seen almost skimming the g-round or water, and the same thing- 

 applies to bats. The Noctule, for instance, on rare occasions 

 may be seen flying- quite low. If exceptional atmospheric 

 conditions make the insects it feeds upon alter their level, the 

 bats, of course, will not g-o hungry, but will promptly follow 

 their food. The chang-es in the heig-ht or duration of a bat's 

 flight are probably induced both by the varying nature of the 

 food supply at different times and in diff"erent places, as well as 

 the barometrical influences affecting that food supply on diff"erent 

 evenings. 



On Plate XXV^II. are four photographs showing some 

 favourite haunts of bats, kindly photographed for me by my 

 friend Mr. Wakefield, whose camera has added so largely to 

 the interest and value of most of my observations on bats. 



Figs. I and 2 show exterior and interior views of an old 

 disused tramway tunnel in Broom Royd Wood, a favourite 

 retreat for bats, and one from which my friend Mr. Armitage 

 and I have taken many scores of specimens at various times, 

 including Long-eared, Natterer's, Whiskered, Pipistrelle, and 

 Daubenton's Bats. In the photographs reproduced, my friend 

 may be seen searching for bats by the somewhat feeble illumina- 

 tion of a candle tied to the end of a walking stick. 



Figs. 3 and 4 on the Plate show two beech trees on the 

 Stainbrough estate, in which we discovered colonies of Noctule 

 Bats. Fig, 4 shows a very fine old beech with the centre limb 

 torn away ; in a hole in the decayed wood at this rift we found 

 a colony of twenty-seven Noctules on April loth, i8g8. 



Fig. 3 shows another beech tree in which is a hole where a 

 party of Noctules appear to take up their abode every summer. 

 The strength of the colony varies in different seasons from as 

 many as two dozen to as few as eight. The hole is only a 

 small one, and in the view given its entrance is almost filled by 

 my hand. On the foot of the ladder stands Mr. W. Broadhead, 

 the chief woodman of the Stainbrough estate, to whose kind- 

 ness I have been indebted for very many specimens at various 

 times. 



Till- Rev. W. Lowir Carter, M.A., of Hoptoii, Mirfield, has accepted an 

 appointment in Birkcnliead. He has consequenll)- resijjned tlie position of 

 Hon. Secretary of the Yorkshire (ieoloirical Society, wliicli lie has filleti so 

 well for many years. Mr. J. H. Hovvarth of Halifax, reigns in iiis stead. 



Naturalist, 



