54 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



pitching for an instant and dashing away again eight times. 

 Others kept dropping in until 9.38, when I left. At 8.49 three 

 or four were dashing round the tree at once. Intermittent 

 squeaking in the den as the Bats returned. 



Sept. Ath. — Fine moonlight evening ; no wind. The first Bat 

 was out at 6.56. Twenty=three more followed before 7.1. No 

 further sign of Bats until 7.5^, when one arrived ; two others at 

 7.59. From then until 8.30 many came. Twice in that time 

 there were three or four at once. On the whole the Bats returned 

 much earlier than last night, although there was no apparent 

 difference in the atmospheric conditions. 



Sept. 5th. — Another fine still evening; moonlight. Twenty- 

 seven Bats left the den between 6.59 and 7.4. The first returned 

 at 7.58, the second at 8.4. From then until 8.50 many returned, 

 singly and by twos and threes. Others put in an appearance 

 until 9.20, when I left, but there was a marked falling off in the 

 frequency of tlie arrivals during the last half-hour. 



It may be that the period of activity is not limited to a short 

 vespertinal flight of from one to two hours, and that the Bats 

 leave their den again before daylight ; but I do not think so^ and 

 for this reason. A captive Noctule which I had for some weeks 

 during the summer used to wake up between 7 and 8 o'clock in the 

 evening, and become very active, climbing about the box in which 

 it was confined, and squeaking vigorously. When, as sometimes 

 happened, I was unable to feed it until two or three hours later, 

 it relapsed into the lethargic sleep which characterizes Bats in 

 the daytime, and I had to rouse it again by warming it in 

 my hand. 



Noctules scufile and squeak for half an hour or more before 

 leaving their dens in the evening, and this squeaking may be 

 heard sometimes even at midday. In Alderley Park, at noon on 

 July 15th, Bats, presumably of this species, were squeaking in a 

 Woodpecker's hole in a tall beech, and during the morning of 

 Aug. 5th the noise made by the Bats in the hollow Scotch fir on 

 the Edge was very noticeable. 



This species changes its feeding-grounds at different times of 

 the year. For some weeks about midsummer Noctules may be 

 counted by scores on almost any evening along the road which 

 skirts the foot of Alderley Edge on the north, but in spring and 



