NOTES ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF BATS. 



ARTHUR WHITAKER, 

 Worsborough Bridge, Baimsley. 



Considering the large number of persons who nowadays interest 

 themselves in some branch of natural history, it is very strange 

 that so little attention should be paid to those interesting little 

 creatures, the Bats, and that so little should be known about 

 their distribution, longevity, breeding habits, etc. 



It is seven years since my friend Mr. Armitage and I com- 

 menced carefully observing the Bats occurring in the Barnsley 

 district, and a most interesting study we have found it. Here 

 we have taken seven of the eight species recorded for Yorkshire, 

 and some notes on their relative abundance and habits were 

 printed by Mr. Armitage in 'The Naturalist ' for February 1905. 



So little being known of the breeding habits of British Bats, 

 it has for many years been our hope to rear some in captivity, 

 a thing which, I believe, has not hitherto been done. Our 

 efforts have at last been partially successful, and except for an 

 unlucky accident many interesting points relating to the life 

 history of these creatures might have been solved. 



The following notes have already been made, but T sincerely 

 hope that we may be able to supplement these with a more 

 complete account in the future. 



During the last week of July 1901, when attempting to catch 

 a Pipistrelle Bat [Vesperugo pipistrelliLs) in my butterfly net at 

 dusk, I accidentally struck it with the ring of the net and killed 

 it. The specimen proved to be a female, containing a single, 

 fully-developed young one, which would have been born within 

 a few da}'s had the mother lived. 



During the latter part of May of the present year I observed 

 a number of Pipistrelle Bats flying about over a small pond at 

 Worsbrough Bridge on several consecutive evenings, and from 

 the manner in which they were chasing one another about con- 

 cluded that pairing was then taking place. Accordingly I made 

 several visits to the pond with my butterfly net in order to catch 

 some alive, and endeavour to obtain the young in confinenient 

 if possible. On the evening of the 27th of May I netted one 

 female, on the following night two females and one male, on the 

 30th one of each sex, and on the 31st one female, and also 

 a Whiskered Bat {Vespertilio inystcicinus). 



The five female and two male pipistrelles I placed altogether 

 in a large cage, feeding them every afternoon, when I usually 



1905 November i. 



