BRITISH MAMMALS 



The belief that it was a rare species in the British Islands is now 

 known to be without foundation, as it is common, and probably always 

 has been, in places suited to its water-loving habits. 



Gilbert White, writing to Pennant in 1767, mentions having seen 

 some years before that date, " myriads of bats " between Richmond and 

 Sunbury, and that " the air swarmed with them all along the Thames "; 

 these masses are most likely to have consisted chiefly of Daubenton's Bats. 



Another favourite haunt is Christchurch, Hampshire, where Mr. 

 Borrer found it in abundance in 1874, and according to Mr. Millais 

 "it is just as common now." 



The late R. F. Tomes in Bell's British Quadrupeds (2nd ed. p. 62) 

 says, " We have sometimes seen these Bats so thick on the Avon, near to 

 Stratford, that at certain spots there could not have been fewer than 

 one to every square yard." 



It is plentifully distributed throughout the greater part of England 

 and Wales, and is also common in various localities in Scotland, where, 

 according to Dr. Eagle Clarke [^nn. Scott. !?{at. Hist. 1892, p. 266), 

 it has been recorded as far north as Fochabers on the Spey. 



It also appears to be widely spread over Ireland. 



This species has been aptly called the * Water Bat,' by Major Barrett- 

 Hamilton, who thus describes its habits {A History of 'British Mammals, 

 part iii. p. 149) : " So peculiar are the vespertinal habits of this species, 

 that, although it is locally abundant, an ordinary observer may be quite 

 unconscious of its existence. It is essentially aquatic, if such an expression 

 be applicable to an animal which never enters the water. It haunts that 

 element continually, flying so close to it that it is difficult to distinguish 

 between the creature itself and its reflection." 



I had not come across this Bat in Surrey until this spring (1920), 

 when in February, requiring specimens for the Plate, I made several 



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