ON YORKSHIRE BATS: 



ANt) ON THE PEOBABILITY OF ADDITIONS BEING 

 MADE TO THE LIST. 



By W. Dbnison Roebuck. 



While preparing my share of Mr. Clarke's and my forthcoming 

 " Handbook of Yorkshire Vertebrates," I found that there was at least 

 one specimen of bat absent from our list, which may very reasonably 

 be expected to occur when looked for. While pointing this out, it 

 may be of interest to take a general view of the present state of our 

 knowledge of Yorkshire Chiroptera. 



So far as at present recorded the list includes five out of fifteen 

 bats known to inhabit Britain. These are — 



1 Plecotus auritus, long-eared bat. 



2 Vesperiigo noctula, great bat. 



3 V. leislerij hairy-armed bat. 



4 V. pipisirellus, common bat. 



5 Vespertilio nattereri, reddish-gray bat. 



Three of these are common, and the other two ver^^ rare, only being 

 recorded in individual cases. I will treat of the five species in detail. 



1. Flecotus auritus (L). 



The long-eared bat, which ranges throughout England, Ireland, and 

 Scotland, is widely distributed, and I believe very common throughout 

 Yorkshire, In some places it is reported to be not so common as the 

 Pipistrelle, as, for instance, at Huddersfield, and at Guisborough, in 

 Cleveland. On the other hand, at Glaisdale, in Cleveland, it is 

 reported as exceeding the Pipistrelle in numbers. So far as my own 

 observations made near Harrogate are concerned, I have met with it 

 oftener than I have met with the Pipistrelle ; but I do not regard my- 

 seK as able to say which is the more abundant of the two species. 



2. Vesperugo noctula (Schreb). 



The Noctula, or great bat, which is more solitary in its habits and 



flies higher in the air than the other bats, is specially interesting to us 



on account of its geographical range. As is the case with the 



nightingale, the northward range of this fine bat terminates — so far as 



it is known — in the county of York ; and, like the nightingale, it is 



entirely absent from Scotland and Ireland ; while throughout the 



whole area of Yorkshire, and of the midland, eastern and southern 



counties of England, it is generally distributed and of frequent 



occurrence. 



N. S., YoL. VI.— May, 1881, 



