266 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



CHIROPTERA. 



Leisler's Bat in Cheshire.— When waiting for Bats in Dunham Park, 



near Bowdon, on May 8th, I noticed a large one with a flight that was 



different to that of the Noctule. I watched it until too late to get a safe 



shot, and missed. A few minutes later I saw a second Bat, which I 



succeeded in shooting, and was surprised to find that it was Leisler's Bat, 



Vesperugo leisleri (Kuhl). I killed it at 7.45 p.m., a short time after I had 



observed the first Noctules on the wing. The flight was slower and more 



erratic than that of the Noctule, whose movements early in the evening 



are usually dashing and rapid. On one or two evenings since I have 



noticed Bats with similar flight to the Leisler's Bat I shot, and believe 



that they were also of that species. It is not safe, however, to dogmatise 



on the difference, for on the 29th I saw a Bat flying slowly, which, when I 



shot it, turned out to be a female Noctule. Upon picking up the Leisler's 



Bat which I had shot, I was at once struck by the small size, the dark 



brown fur, and the absence of the peculiar smell of V. noctula ; and, upon 



carefully measuring the animal and examining the teeth, I felt sure that it 



was V. leisleri. Dr. N. H. Alcock and Mr. W. de Winton have kindly 



confirmed my identification of the species. All the Bats I noticed with 



this slow erratic flight were flying in one direction along an avenue of 



beeches. When they had passed I never saw them return, although 



undoubted Noctules which flew down the same avenue came back again 



several times. Both the Leisler's Bats and Noctules appeared to come 



from the same clump of old beeches, though I have not been able to 



discover from which tree they actually emerged. Noctules are exceedingly 



plentiful in Dunham Park, passing the day in holes high up in the 



beeches, and in the evening repairing to one of the glades or open spaces, 



where they course backwards and forwards high overhead. As a rule, on 



emerging, they fly higher than the tops of the trees ; the Leisler's Bat 



I shot was a little below the level of the tree-tops. This species has not 



been previously recorded from Cheshire.— T. A. Coward (Bowdon, Cheshire). 



The Serotine (Vespertilio serotinus) near Hastings.— Upon showing 



the note with this heading (Zool. 1897, p. 141) to my friend the Rev. E. 



