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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Habits of the Noctule (Vesperugo noctula). — In the October number 

 of ' The Zoologist ' (p. 397), Major G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton asks for 

 any information respecting this fine British Bat ; so perhaps the 

 following description of a large colony may prove of interest to him 

 and other readers of this Journal : — During the early summer of the 

 year 1890 I went to live in King's Lynn, and resided there for the 

 most part until the autumn of 1892, since which time I have paid 

 annual visits for a few days at a time, chiefly during the month of 

 June. Soon after my arrival I became acquainted with a large colony 

 of Noctules which had taken up their quarters in the roof under- 

 drawing of a three-storeyed and fairly modern house in one of the 

 leading thoroughfares (London Road). This house was then owned 

 and occupied by an eccentric character named Brooks, but, with the 

 exception of a bed and a chair or two, was not furnished. For several 

 years after 1891 it was untenanted excepting by the Bats in the roof. 

 In the spring these Bats were neither seen nor heard until about the 

 end of April or early May (according to the season), when small parties 

 would make their appearance in the evenings. As the weather became 

 warmer in May a greater number would come forth each night for the 

 evening flight. Towards the end of May and in early June the num- 

 bers leaving nightly were almost incredible. I have myself several 

 times counted in one evening more than two hundred (the greatest 

 number being two hundred and forty-five), whilst some young friends 

 who lived in the next house have upon several occasions carefully 

 counted close upon three hundred leaving in one evening. Towards 

 the end of June they rapidly decreased in numbers, until well on into 

 July, when not a single Bat would leave the dormitory, although 

 numbers would be seen hawking in the air each evening. Nor would 

 anything further be seen of them either leaving or returning to their 

 resting-place that year, but the following spring they would issue forth 

 exactly as they had done the year before, and this was continued 

 annually. For ten or a dozen years, to my knowledge, these Bats 

 had things to their liking, were not interfered with in their lodgings, 



