﻿2 OLDHAM, On some Habits of Bats. 



probably feed at intervals on the flies, gnats, and moths 

 which are to be found in great numbers in the tunnels 

 during the colder months, even if they do not venture into 

 the open air. A noticeable trait in the character of this 

 and other bats in captivity is the predilection for certain 

 resting places. Bats which I have had at large in my 

 rooms would, when disturbed, return again and again to 

 some chosen spot on a picture-frame or cornice ; and the 

 same thing probably occurs under natural conditions. Long- 

 eared Bats in the Alderley mines, if not molested, were 

 generally to be found on each successive visit in the precise 

 spot where they had been previously observed, but this 

 of course does not prove that they had not been on the 

 wing in the intervals. I attempted to mark some by 

 snipping fur from their backs as they hung, but, although 

 at the most they only resented this treatment by 

 moving slightly or sometimes snarling, they had always 

 changed their quarters before my next visit, and even if 

 not subsequently molested they sometimes shifted their 

 ground a second or third time. This was also the case 

 if I touched one of the bats ever so lightly. The be- 

 haviour of these marked individuals cannot therefore be 

 adduced as evidence either that the bats habitually move 

 •or that their winter sleep is normally unbroken. I have 

 visited the mines scores of times in winter, but only once 

 saw a bat on the wing. On the evening of February 15th, 

 1901, one was flying in one of the tunnels. It may possibly 

 have been an individual which had been taken from the 

 tunnel some days previously and replaced on February 

 1 2th, and, if so, its activity proves nothing ; but the fact 

 that when I captured and killed it faecal matter was pre- 

 sent in its intestines shows that at any rate it had been 

 feeding recently. The temperature in this tunnel at 9-30 

 p.m., as registered by a thermometer fixed to a walking 



