154 VESPERTILIONID^— MYOTIS 



The average time of appearance at the water, as computed 

 by Mr Oldham, for Cheshire, is corroborated for Ireland by Dr 

 N. H. Alcock,^ who gives it as fifty-four minutes after sunset. 

 At Tankardstown Bridge, Kinahan states that bats began to 

 leave their den at 9.30 p.m. in the last week of June— that is, 

 at about seventy minutes after sunset. In July mornings, 

 also in Ireland, Mr C. B. Moffat found them flying frequently 

 up to forty-four minutes before sunrise, less frequently after 

 that time, and disappearing altogether six minutes later. 



That Daubenton's Bat continues its flight all night, although 

 known to Mr Service^ and others, was first demonstrated by 

 Mr Moffat,^ who, by many painstaking vigils, has been able 

 to detect its flight before sunrise,* as well as after sunset, and 

 at most of the intervening hours, a feat of no easy accomplish- 

 ment considering the size of the bat and the nature of its haunts. 



In spite of its apparent objection to light, this bat has, 

 like others, been observed on the wing by daylight, and 

 William Borrer* states, not, however, from his own know- 

 ledge, that in the boathouses of Ullswater and Grasmere it 

 flies throughout the day. Cold or wet nights may cause it 

 to suspend its flights altogether, although Mr Coward tells 

 me that it does not object to slight rain. Kinahan found it 

 returning before bad weather at 10 o'clock ; and on a wet 

 and stormy 25th June, only one bat issued from the strong- 

 hold, in which, at 10.30 p.m., all was quiet, and there was no 

 sign of animation. 



Very little is known with certainty concerning the length 

 of the hibernatory sleep, but it appears that roughly speaking 

 it lasts from the latter part of September to the middle of 

 April. Mr Oldham finds the bat active in Cheshire up to 

 23rd September, and in Hertfordshire to 13th October, while 

 in Ireland it has come under the notice of Mr E. B. Knox, in 

 County Cavan, on the same day, and of Dr Alcock on 26th 

 September.^ Mr J. Steele Elliott gives the earliest date for its 

 spring appearance at Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, as 



1 Irish Naturalist, 1899, 31 and 124. ^ Op. cit, 202. 



3 Irish Naturalist, 1905, 106-107. 



« Oldham has seen it flying at 2.45 a.m., or seventy-five minutes before sunrise, 

 on 13th July. 



^ Zoologist, 1874, 4128. ° Irish Naturalist, 1899, 33. 



