VESPERIKIO XOCriVAC.AXS, 1 93 



liollow trees which are cut for firewood chirino- winter. I may add 

 that the season of 1880 was very backward in Maine, cold rains and 

 occasional Hurries of snow occurring- with disagreeable frequency 

 well into June." 



The bat hunter has many difficulties to contend with. Night 

 creeps upon him so insidiously that he is onl\- made aware of its 

 presence by the number of shots niissed (which multipK- with 

 painful ra[)idity with the increasing darkness), and b)' the great 

 trouble and loss of time experienced in finding the bats that fall to 

 the o-round. The temptation to linger as long as the bats can be 

 distinctly seen is very great, but should be resisted if the hunter 

 has anv reirard for his reputation as a wing shot. When two shots 

 out of three are missed, it is time to go home. Moonlight e\-enings 

 are also very misleading, but the novice soon learns to avoid such 

 illusions. I believe that I could not average one bat for every 

 dozen shots by the brightest moonlight. The greatest obstacle in 

 bat shooting is the inability to calculate distance after early night- 

 fall, objects invariably appearing much farther off than they really 

 are. Thus, a bat is frequently fired at when supposed to be at 

 proper range, when in reality it is so near that the shot have not 

 time to scatter, and it is conse([U(!ntly either missed altogether or 

 so blown to pieces as to be worthless. I have sometimes, aftermiss- 

 in->-a bat with the first barrel, brought it down with the second, when 

 it seemed so far awa\- that I was surprised to lind that my gun carried 

 to so great a distance. On going to pick it up I have been still more 

 astonished to hnd it within short range, rarely over sevent)-tive 

 feet (22.86 metres) froni the spot where I had stood. This decep- 

 tiveness in distance manifests itself in another embarrassing way, 

 for in searchino- for the bat in this dim light one is almost certain to 

 overestimate the distance at which it fell. Hence a well-trained 

 dog, with a good nose, is of the greatest assistance. 



The length of time that the fading light will permit of bat shoot- 

 ing in any single evening varies from a little over half an hour, to 



