THE NOCTULE, OR GREAT BAT 67 



thrown towards one, even when flying high, will often attract 

 it within gunshot. It does not necessarily indicate, as Mr 

 Whitaker suggests, that the bats hunt chiefly by eyesight. 

 Mr Arthur Patterson ^ finds that a good mimicry of its shrill 

 notes serves the same purpose, and he relates that, having 

 on one occasion a slightly wounded one shrieking in his 

 pocket, its companions came so near him that he could feel the 

 whisk of their wings. 



Besides beetles, this bat eats moths and lesser insects also 

 when they come in its way, and it will certainly devour 

 them freely in captivity. It is difficult, however, to 

 prepare a precise list of the creatures upon which it 

 preys, since digestion is very rapid and the contents of the 

 stomach of shot specimens are usually in a highly disinte- 

 grated condition. Mr Coward noticed^ a number flying 

 low over the fields at the edge of the cliffs at Nevin, Carnarvon- 

 shire, their food being apparently the winged males of a species 

 of black ant, and Mr J. Steele Elliott has observed them 

 hawking mayflies over the river Severn.^ 



The flight of the Great Bat is, typically, high, straight and 

 rapid, and it may often be seen careering with swifts or 

 swallows at great elevations ; but it is by no means tied to 

 habit in this respect, and frequently manoeuvres near the 

 ground or occasionally dips towards a stream to seize its 

 quarry. During the fine midsummer evenings, when the 

 abundant cockchafers are humming on every side, it is in its 

 glory. Then it flies high and straight, and its shrill, 

 clear voice is heard as it passes overhead, interrupting itself 

 only to dart at some insect, and then passing on. But an 

 observer will not watch its actions long without noticing a 

 movement which looks like the falling of a tumbler pigeon, 

 with a consequent drop of about from one to six or eight 

 feet. Sometimes this is repeated every few yards as long 

 as the animal is in sight, and its meaning has been the 

 subject of some discussion. The usual explanation is that 

 the fall takes place with closed wings, and must be occasioned 

 by the capture of some insect so large and intractable that 

 the anterior joint of the wing, with its well-armed thumb, is 

 » Zoologist, 1898, 304. ' ^^^■'^•. 1901. S3- ' I^i'^-' 1901, 70. 



