NATTERER'S BAT 187 



it generally managed to clear its cage of living insects during 

 the night. 



When sleeping this bat did not always hang by its feet, but 

 often lay prone on the floor of the cage. It did not as a rule 

 remain on the wing for more than ten or twenty minutes at a 

 time, after which period it would alight for rest. In doing so 

 "it frequently seized hold first with its thumbs, and then did 

 not shuffle round so rapidly as those Bats do which invariably 

 settle in this manner ; a Noctule, Long-eared or Whiskered 

 Bat clutches the object to which it intends to hang with its 

 thumbs, and with great rapidity twists itself round so as to 

 gain the usual reversed position. The Lesser Horseshoe per- 

 forms a more remarkable feat : it flies to within an inch or so 

 of the object, and then reverses itself in the air, catching first 

 with its feet ; in this way it is ready at once to drop from its 

 hold and fly. When my Natterer's Bat wished to settle on 

 certain objects — especially on the tip of one of a pair of Fallow- 

 deer antlers over the door — it sometimes turned in the air after 

 the manner of a Horseshoe. This action was not so clean or 

 certain as in the case of a Horseshoe, and occasionally the Bat 

 missed its hold and fell, generally recovering itself before it had 

 fallen many inches. It was somewhat remarkable that it shared 

 the habits of both the Vespertilionidce and the Rkinolophidce 

 (for the Greater Horseshoe reverses in the air) in this respect, 

 but did not perform either action with the same celerity or 

 ease." 



Its voice is described as consisting of two notes, of which 

 "one — pitched much lower than the other — was a low chatter 

 rather than the usual high-pitched cry of a Bat." 



Mr Coward suggests that "if some of the habits of this 

 example were typical of the species, we may see in Natterer's 

 Bat the first traces of habits which have become constant in the 

 specialised RkinolophidcB. In the Horseshoes the short tail is 

 carried recurved over the back ; in Pterygistes^ Pipistrellus, 

 Plecotus, and some species of Myotis, it is usually carried 

 curved beneath the body; in M. nattereri we find the tail, 

 although used as a pouch, is carried extended behind the body. 

 Again, the habit of turning in the air before alighting appears 



1 I.e., Nyctalus. 



