76 VESPERTILIONIDiE. 



and this is also the case during hibernation ; the long 

 tragus then hangs down, and gives the animal the appear- 

 ance of having short and slender ears.* Indeed, a person 

 who had not seen it in the act of folding its ears, could 

 never imagine it to he the same species when they are 

 fully expanded. This circumstance refutes the notion 

 suggested by Edwards and adopted by Pennant, that the 

 " lesser ear may possibly serve as a valve to close the 

 larger in the sleeping state of this animal." 



The cry of this species is acute and shrill, but not loud. 

 It affords a rather remarkable illustration of the well- 

 known fact, that some persons are incapable of detecting 

 certain sounds ; as during the time that several of them 

 were kept living, by the author of the former edition of 

 this work, although their small sharp cry was distinctly 

 audible to persons sitting much farther from them than 

 himself, and though he bent his attention closely to them, 

 listening with the greatest intentness, he could not detect 

 the sound unless the ear was placed close to their cage, 

 though it was uttered frequently. On being disturbed, 

 the sound becomes more clear and piercing. 



The Long-eared Bat appears to frequent open country 

 more than many other species, but that it also frequents 

 the same situations as the Pipistrelle and Whiskered 

 Bat we have the testimony of many observers to show. 

 The following observations, made at Welford Hill by one 

 of the authors, seem to throw some additional light on 

 its habits and manners. Having occasion to rise early — 

 about three in the morning — on opening the window of 

 his bedroom, a Bat of this species was seen actively 

 engaged around the sprigs of a spindle tree which ex- 

 tended across the window. It was in bloom at the time, 

 and was surrounded by a cloud of micro-lepidoptera, on 



* See the figure at page 16. 



