Quadrupeds, 75 



a favourite Tom cat seated on a table near the window, beside a nar- 

 row-necked cream-jug containing milk: no person was in the kitchen. 

 He was smelling the milk and endeavouring to reach it with his tongue, 

 but could not ; at last he inserted one of his fore paws and withdrew 

 it, the fur saturated with milk ; after he had licked it clean he dipped 

 it again, and kept repeating the process as long as I remained observ- 

 ing him, which I did for several minutes, and then left him to his 

 employment, for I thought he had well deserved his reward by his 

 ingenuity. — James Bladon; Pont-y-Pool, December, 1842. 



Note on some species of Bats occurring near Teignmouth. As bats 

 have already engaged the attention of your correspondents, a short 

 notice of those found in this neighbourhood may perhaps be accepta- 

 ble. The best way of procuring them is by a common mothing net, 

 in which they may easily be taken ; this is much preferable to shoot- 

 ing them, both as it saves the time which would otherwise be employ- 

 ed in finding the dead ones, and a useless destruction of their lives is 

 thereby avoided, since the common kinds may be suffered to escape 

 again. The species found in this neighbourhood are the following: — 

 the greater horse-shoe bat {Rhinolophus ferrnm-equinum), scarce; 

 the lesser horse-shoe bat [R. hipposideros), one specimen ; the bar- 

 bastelle [Vespertilio barbastellus), scarce; the long-eared bat {Ple- 

 cotus auritus), and the mouse-coloured bat [Scotophilus murinus)* 

 both common. One evening I caught for a friend a female of Pleco- 

 tus auritus; in the morning there was a young one in the cage with it: 

 on the next day, when I called to enquire after the captive, he took 

 it out of the cage to show me his new acquisition, when the mother, 

 finding herself at liberty, immediately flew away, carrying her young 

 one hanging to her breast, and seeming in no manner inconvenienced 

 by the burden, since she flew so far that it was entirely out of our 

 power to capture her again. — Robert C. R. Jordan ; Teignmouth, Ja- 

 nuary 17, 1843. 



Anecdote of Bats flying by daylight. The following fact relative 

 to the bat ( Vespertilio Plpistrellas) I do not find to have been men- 

 tioned by writers on Natural History. On referring to my journal of 

 1837, I find that this animal had made its appearance as early as the 

 27th of April, at which time it was busily flitting about at noon-day, 

 the sun shining brightly at the time. From that period to the present 

 I have frequently observed it under similar circumstances, up to the 

 end of December. Daubenton's bat I also shot whilst flying about in 



* Does our correspondent mean the common bat ? There is, unfortunately, much 

 confusion at present in the nomenclature of this tribe. — Ed. 



