202 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
dozen kinds are spread all over the Northern 
States and southern Canada, some regularly 
migrating southward in winter and returning 
in spring like birds. 
The commonest ones are the little brown bat, 
which is glossy brown above and paler below; 
the very similar, but more southern pipistrelle; 
the silvery bat, whose fur is dark brown with 
white tips; and the rusty or foxy-gray red bat. 
All these are small (3.4 to 4.4 in. long). A 
larger dark brown kind, the Carolina bat (4.6 
in.) is common in all the Southern States; 
while the North has the big hoary bat (5.4 in. 
long, grizzled above, white below), a long- 
winged, swift-flying denizen of forests, rarely 
seen and a winter migrant. Other species are 
locally well known in California and along the 
Mexican border, especially the little ‘‘free- 
tailed’? Texan bat (Nyctinomus), which repre- 
sents a tropical group in which the tail is free 
from the membrane stretched between the hind 
legs. 
All these bats are similar in habits, sleeping 
in some dark and sheltered place during the 
day, and hibernating more or less completely 
