ISO VESPERTILIONID^— MYOTIS 



tunate as to observe one, after hovering repeatedly over a 

 particular spot, suddenly drop flat with its wings fully extended. 

 There it remained motionless for several seconds, and then 

 rose with apparent ease to continue its flight ; the action 

 appeared to be voluntary, and not the result of accident. 



The flight of the Water Bat, as it pursues the tenour of 

 its untiring way in easy circles, now over mid-water, now close 

 to the bank, has excited the wondering admiration of many 

 naturalists, and has been by Macpherson compared with that 

 of a sandpiper, and by others with that of a swallow or 

 martin. Its preference for certain areas of streams or lakes 

 to the exclusion of others has, however, hidden it from many 

 eyes, and, although it may be abundant in certain haunts, it is 

 often absent from the surrounding and less favoured localities. 

 Broadly speaking, although with conspicuous exceptions, it 

 prefers pools or reaches where the current is slack or the 

 water stagnant, and where there is ample shelter. One such 

 resort was known to Tomes, near Alcester, in Worcestershire. 

 A small stream called the Arrow passes near the mansion of 

 Coughton Court, and in the grounds is a chain of deep and 

 melancholy ponds overhung by alders and other moisture-loving 

 trees. Here Tomes found the bats abounding. Their diurnal 

 retreat was the roof-chamber of a neighbouring out-building, 

 where the floor was covered an inch or two thick with the 

 evidences of the presence of a numerous colony, and where 

 every crevice overhead was crammed with occupants. 



Its peculiar habits occasionally bring this bat under the 

 notice of anglers, and it is probable that many of the accounts 

 of the hooking of bats by artificial flies refer to it. Mr Gordon 

 Dalgleish^ was successful in securing one with a specially 

 designed bait of tissue-paper, but Mr Symington Grieve 

 found that at Loch Dochart, although several dashed after 

 the artificial flies, they discovered the true nature of the lure 

 in time to save themselves, although he was assured that such 

 was not always the case. 



> Zoologist, 1904, 345 ; see also F. Coburn, Joum. cit., 1892, 485, the bats being 

 caught by the mouth. In some cases the hook catches in a wing, as related of a 

 Long-eared Bat by C. G. Gray, Field, 28th May 1892, 810, the capture being 

 probably not accidental, but due to the bat's having attempted to envelop the bait 

 with its wings. 



