Quadrupeds — Birds. 



6257 



Bats Jlying in the Sunshine. — Whilst walking on Box Hill, last Sunday afternoon, 

 the 12ih inst., I was surprised to see more than a dozen very large bats on the wing, 

 circling around with a lofty and rapid flight, like that of the great Noctule. The day 

 was clear and warm, and, although it was nearly six o'clock, the sun was shining 

 brightly, and the whole face of the hill was strongly illuminated, yet the bats were 

 apparently as much at home in the sunshine as the swallows, which were sporting 

 about in their neighbourhood, but at a respectful distance. As I believe it is unusual 

 for the Noctule to appear so late in the season as September, or indeed for any of our 

 bats to come out in such bright weather, I shall be glad to inquire if some one among 

 your correspondents can tell me to which species these animals are likely to belong. 

 I did not hear them utter any cry. — JE. W. H. Holdsworth ; 26, Osnahurgh Street, 

 September 16, 1858. 



Contributions towards a Biography of the Red Grouse. 

 By the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, M.A. 



For several years past I have had continued opportunity of fre- 

 quenting one of the best and most abundantly stocked moors in 

 Yorkshire ; and, partly from love of the wild freedom of the moor, 

 and partly because the moor affords me short cuts to several dif- 

 ferent parts of a very wide and straggling parish, I have availed 

 myself of the opportunity aforesaid at all times of the year, and, 

 perhaps it is hardly necessary to add, much more frequently without 

 a gun than with. It may be that some of the observations I have 

 made on occasion of these moor rambles may not be uninteresting to 

 some of the readers of the 'Zoologist;' and I have therefore given an 

 hour or two to the compilation of the present paper, hoping that, 

 though in the eyes of the savagely scientific it may take no higher 

 rank than lhat of a " dish of gossip," it may yet be as acceptable to 

 the lover of living birds as that sort of light food usually is to its 

 customary consumers. 



The red grouse, or, as they are almost universally named here, 

 moor-bird, pairs very early. I have seen them coupled — not univer- 

 sally of course, but still so commonly as to be much more than 

 simply noticeable — by the 20th or 21st of December. Last winter 

 they had paired before the old year was out, and by the middle of 

 January they had, almost universally, formed their annual union. 

 But the match so early made is very often broken off, at least 

 in appearance, under the pressure of cold and hunger. The last day, 

 a Sunday, in January this year was a very cold day, with snow on the 

 ground and still falling. As I went over the moor to a district of the 

 XVI. 3 F 



