176 MAMMALIA. 



Order CHIROPTKRA. Family VKSI'ERTILIONIIXE. 



ATALAPHA CINEREA (Beauvois) Peters. 



Hoary Bat. 



This species, which differs from the red bat in its much larger 

 size, as well as in coloration, is not rare in the Adirondacks, and I 

 have taken it both in the interior and alono^ the western border of 

 the recjion. 



The Hoary Bat can be recognized, even in the dusk of evening, 

 by its great size, its long and pointed wings, and the swiftness and 

 irregularity of its flight. It does not start out so early as our other 

 bats, and is consequently much more difficult to shoot. The borders 

 of woods, water courses, and roadways through the forest are among 

 its favorite resorts, and its nightly range is vastly greater than that 

 of any of its associates. While the other species are extremely local, 

 moving to and fro over a very restricted area, this traverses a com- 

 paratively large extent of territory in its evening excursions, which 

 fact is probably attributable to its superior power of flight. 



Imagine for the moment, sympathetic reader, that you are an 

 enthusiastic bat hunter, and have chanced to visit some northern 

 forest where this handsome species occurs. The early evening finds 

 you, gun in hand, near the border of a lonely wood. The small bats 

 soon begin to fly, and in the course of fifteen or twenty minutes you 

 may have killed several, all of which prove to be the silver-haired 

 species { Vespcrugo noctivagans). The twilight is fast fading into 

 night, and your eyes fairly ache from the constant effort of searching 

 its obscurity, when suddenly a large bat is seen approaching, perhaps 

 high above the tree-tops, and has scarcely entered the limited field 

 of vision when, in swooping for a passing insect, he cuts the line of 

 the distant horizon and disappears in the darkness below. In breath- 

 less suspense you wait for him to rise, crouching low that his form 

 may be sooner outlined against the dim light that still lingers in the 

 northwest, when he suddenly shoots by, seemingly as big as an owl, 



