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  311 
  

  

  NOTES 
  AND 
  QUERIES. 
  

  

  MAMMALIA. 
  

  

  Notes 
  on 
  the 
  Noctule 
  (Pterygistes 
  noctula). 
  — 
  On 
  July 
  2nd 
  a 
  friend 
  

   and 
  I 
  took 
  five 
  Noctules 
  out 
  of 
  a 
  hollow 
  willow-tree, 
  about 
  twenty 
  feet 
  

   up, 
  at 
  Esher, 
  Surrey. 
  A 
  week 
  later 
  we 
  visited 
  the 
  tree 
  again, 
  and 
  took 
  

   four 
  more. 
  What 
  struck 
  me 
  as 
  being 
  remarkable 
  was 
  that 
  all 
  the 
  Bats 
  

   taken 
  were 
  males. 
  Mr. 
  Lydekker, 
  in 
  his 
  ' 
  Handbook 
  on 
  the 
  British 
  

   Mammalia,' 
  says 
  : 
  — 
  " 
  It 
  is 
  stated 
  that 
  when 
  hybernating 
  in 
  winter 
  the 
  

   Noctule 
  generally 
  associates, 
  after 
  the 
  manner 
  of 
  many 
  of 
  its 
  kindred, 
  

   in 
  separate 
  colonies 
  of 
  males 
  and 
  females 
  ; 
  such, 
  at 
  least, 
  being 
  the 
  

   experience 
  of 
  Mr. 
  J. 
  Gurney, 
  who 
  further 
  states 
  that 
  the 
  number 
  of 
  

   females 
  is 
  greater 
  than 
  that 
  of 
  males." 
  This 
  certainly 
  has 
  not 
  been 
  

   my 
  experience 
  ; 
  I 
  have 
  always 
  found 
  the 
  males 
  far 
  commoner. 
  In 
  a 
  

   previous 
  year 
  I 
  took 
  several 
  out 
  of 
  a 
  hoik 
  w 
  elm-tree 
  at 
  Milford, 
  Surrey, 
  

   and 
  to 
  the 
  best 
  of 
  my 
  recollection 
  they 
  were 
  all 
  males. 
  Do 
  the 
  sexes, 
  

   then, 
  only 
  come 
  together 
  in 
  the 
  breeding 
  season, 
  and 
  is 
  this 
  common 
  

   to 
  all 
  species 
  of 
  British 
  Bats 
  ? 
  — 
  Gordon 
  Dalgliesh 
  (29, 
  Larkfield 
  Road, 
  

   Richmond, 
  Surrey). 
  

  

  Whiskered 
  Bat 
  in 
  Oxfordshire. 
  — 
  A 
  Whiskered 
  Bat 
  (Vespertilio 
  

   mystacinus) 
  flew 
  into 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  rooms 
  here 
  on 
  the 
  night 
  of 
  July 
  20th. 
  

   Curiously 
  enough, 
  the 
  last 
  I 
  saw 
  flew 
  into 
  the 
  same 
  room 
  on 
  July 
  19th, 
  

   1901. 
  There 
  are 
  shrubs 
  just 
  outside 
  the 
  window, 
  and 
  numbers 
  of 
  

   moths 
  come 
  into 
  the 
  room 
  on 
  warm 
  nights, 
  attracted 
  by 
  the 
  light. 
  It 
  

   seems 
  probable 
  that 
  this 
  Bat 
  feeds 
  largely 
  on 
  moths. 
  — 
  0. 
  V. 
  Aplin 
  

   (Bloxham, 
  Oxon). 
  

  

  AVES. 
  

  

  Blackbird 
  singing 
  from 
  a 
  House-top. 
  — 
  Mr. 
  Belcher's 
  note 
  (ante, 
  

   p. 
  262) 
  reminds 
  me 
  that 
  when 
  at 
  Interlaken 
  last 
  summer 
  I 
  frequently 
  

   noticed 
  Blackbirds 
  singing 
  from 
  the 
  house-tops, 
  perched 
  either 
  on 
  a 
  

   chimney 
  or 
  a 
  gable. 
  It 
  struck 
  me 
  at 
  the 
  time 
  as 
  remarkable, 
  and 
  a 
  

   thing 
  which 
  I 
  had 
  not 
  observed 
  in 
  England. 
  In 
  the 
  British 
  Islands, 
  

   however, 
  those 
  two 
  most 
  aggressive 
  species, 
  Passer 
  domesticus 
  and 
  

   Stumus 
  vulgaris, 
  so 
  effectually 
  assert 
  a 
  peculiar 
  right 
  to 
  the 
  house-tops 
  

  

  