1905- Moffat. — Duration of Flight among Bats. 105 



examples he had shot at Selborne, and adds that " their 

 maws were full of food, but so macerated that the quality 

 could not be distinguished." 



These facts must increase our astonishment at the truly 

 monstrous rate at which the Bats of this group consume their 

 pre}'. In the case of the Hairy-armed Bat I may add that the 

 rate of digestion must be equally prodigious, since 1 have 

 found that even in the short nights of June that creature takes 

 its two flights, evening and morning, with the same regularity 

 as in August. That is to say,havingretiredin the "cricket-ball" 

 state, already referred to, a few minutes before ten on a June 

 night, it comes out again a few minutes after two, active and 

 hungr}^ as a hawk, for another short but furious banquet. 



Whether the Noctule shares this last-mentioned habit is a 

 point on which I can only speak with diffidence. It may now 

 be taken as admitted (Dr. Alcock's verdict in the Irish 

 Naturalist for August, 1899, on the subject of Mr. Barrington's 

 captures at Tandragee is accepted by Mr. Millais as final) 

 that this large Bat does not occur in Ireland. In England 

 much attention has been given to its habits^ by Mr. Charles 

 Oldham, and that gentleman has expressed the opinion that 

 it comes out only once in the twenty-four hours, confining its 

 time of flight to the evening twilight. Mr. Oldham is careful 

 to admit that he is not certain on the latter point. Assuming 

 his view to be correct, we have in that small group of British 

 Bats that was lately comprised in the single genus Vesperugo 

 (or Pipistr el lus) as many as three different types of flight, viz. : — 



1. All-night Flight (Pipistrelle) ; 



2. Double Twilight (Hairy-armed Bat) ; 



3. Single or Evening Twilight (Noctule). 



I am afraid, however, that the truth of this singular conclusion 

 is open to some doubt : firstly^ because Mr. Oldham does not 

 appear to have looked for his Noctules in the morning ; and 

 secondly, because when I once myself visited a haunt of that 

 species before sunrise — at Madeley, in Staffordshire, on the 

 morning of June 27th, 1901 — I undoubtedl}' saw two Noctules 

 fl3dng. But I should add that the particular haunt where two 

 were then seen was generally frequented of an evening by 



' Zoologist for February, 1901. 



^^3 



