336 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 



unquestionably the Silver-haired one {Vespertilio noctiva- 

 gans of De Kay), and, consequently, an interesting addition 

 to our fauna. 



October gth. — Dr. Muir, 42nd Highlanders, tells me that 

 he observed a Bat busy on the wing at Ireland Island about 

 ten days since. 



The Mice and Rats of Bermuda have, doubtless, found 

 their way there in ships, and multiplied. May, in his 

 account of the Shipwreck of the " Sea-Adventure " in 

 1609, states that no rats or mice were found in the Bermudas; 

 and then a few years later, we read in " Smith's History of 

 Virginia," that " the Islands of Bermuda were at that time 

 overrun with Rats, which destroyed the corn of the previous 

 year, and the Governor and Council decided that it was 

 necessary to plant the crop, for the year in question, on the 

 Island of Somerset, as it was the only place of any size free 

 from the dreaded vermin." 



" Mus decumanus" swims and dives remarkably well, and 

 sometimes attains large dimensions. 



Some years ago, while passing up the front street of 

 Hamilton, during a sudden shower of rain, I witnessed a 

 sight seldom to be met with, and stood for some time to 

 notice it. The weather for many days previously had been 

 very warm and rainless. 



In the ground floor window of a merchant's warehouse 

 quite a dozen of the common brown Rat were crowding 

 and scrambling for the drops of rain water which trickled 

 down the outer surface of each pane of glass, and with open 

 mouths vainly attempting to arrest each drop of the pre- 

 cious fluid. A painful sight, indicating the absence of fresh 



