LEISLER'S BAT 97 



the shrill screech, and from that time one hears the tinkling 

 no more." It is to the "tinkle" and not to the screech, 

 Mr Moffat thinks, that Dr Alcock referred when he stated 

 that the cry of this species is moderately high in pitch, 

 corresponding to about 17,000 vibrations per second of 

 Galton's whistle, and that a fair imitation of it may be 

 made by "striking a sixpenny piece against a halfpenny," 



A Leisler's Bat was kept alive by William Darragh in 1858, 

 for ten days. Later, Dr Alcock, Mr Moffat, Mrs Oldfield 

 Thomas (in the latter case Mr Finn's specimen), and Mr 

 Whitaker ' have kept various individuals in captivity for some 

 little time. Under such circumstances it is an interesting and 

 cleanly pet, devoid of fear, and easily trained to come for its 

 food on hearing a particular sound. It is more active in a 

 confined space than the Noctule, but soon becomes lazy, and, 

 although it will, if necessary, fly to and settle on the hand 

 that feeds it, at other times it takes the earliest opportunity 

 of alighting. But when once it has alighted it is active 

 enough, scurrying round tables, and even falling off on to the 

 floor. 



Dr Alcock describes a live one, which he received on 13th 

 February. It remained in a typical state of hibernation until 

 nth March, when it awoke to be fed, returning to sleep on cold 

 weather again setting in, and thus being in alternate torpidity 

 and vigour until its untimely death on 6th April. Another, 

 kept under observation by Mr Whitaker from 27th September 

 to 1 6th April, passed through somewhat similar alternations. 



In appetite this bat does not fall behind its congener. Indi- 

 viduals shot while on the wing, which could not have been flying 

 for more than an hour, are described by Mr Moffat as " mon- 

 strously full — so round and firm and hard (almost like cricket- 

 balls), with the quantity of insect food they had gorged in that 

 short interval." Others submitted to Prof G. H. Carpenter 

 by Dr Alcock were found to have been feeding largely on 

 flies. Professor Carpenter was also able to identify, amongst 

 other insects, the yellow-haired dung-fly,^ a midge,^ besides 

 legs and wings of caddis-flies, and, as Mr Moffat informs me, a 



' Naturalist, 1907, 387, 415, etc. ^ Scatophaga stercoraria. 



^ Probably a mycetophilid, also an acalypterate muscid. 



