﻿Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlix. (1905), No. 9. 



IX. On some habits of Bats, with special reference 

 to the Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hippo- 

 siderus). 



By Charles Oldham. 



Received and read February ft/i, f<poj. 



Little is known of the duration and extent of the 

 winter sleep of bats in this country, and most writers on 

 British Mammals have contented themselves with general 

 statements to the effect that these creatures spend the 

 colder months in a state of torpor, but that a small bat, 

 usually said, on quite insufficient grounds, to be a Pipi- 

 strelle {Pipistrellus pipistrellus) may sometimes be seen 

 hawking for food on warm days even in December and 

 January. The account given by Alcock and Moffat (1) 

 of a Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus) which was under 

 observation at Ballyhyland, Ireland, for some time during 

 the winter of 1 900-1 is much more to the point. These 

 observers state that " hibernation in the case of the Long- 

 " eared Bat, at any rate, is not as profound or as unbroken 

 " as was at one time supposed, but is repeatedly interrupted ; 

 " and, apparently, this is liable to occur whenever the 

 11 thermometer rises above 46°F." 



The Long-eared Bat hibernates in the tunnels of 

 the disused copper-mines on Alderley Edge, where 

 it may be found hanging from the roof or walls, or, 

 more rarely, wedged into crevices in the sandstone rock. 

 When living at Alderley I used frequently to search for 

 bats in these tunnels during the winter — they do not resort 

 to them at other periods — and I came to the conclusion 

 that the winter sleep was not infrequently broken. The bats 



March jisf, 1905. 



