Whitaker : Notes on the Breeding Habits of Bats. 327 



Avas only a day or two old. Later observation leads me to think 

 that it was between ten days and a fortnight old. It was 

 impossible to select the female Bat from the others at the time, 

 as all had been placed together in a canvas bag, and were very 

 lively (it is no joke risking one's hands in a bag of living 

 Noctules, that is, if one has at all ' sensitive feelings'). The baby 

 was accordingly carried home separatel}^, and not placed with 

 the female bat until next day, when the photograph (No. 3 on 

 Plate XXII.) was taken of the pair. The adult Bat would have 

 nothing whatever to do with the young one, however, and 

 -attempted to bite it once or twice when I put it near her. 



The reason for this was shown about 5.30 in the afternoon 

 of the 30th of June, the day following its capture. I had just 

 given the female Bat a drink of water from a brush, and tried 

 without success to get it to eat, when I noticed that it seemed 

 restless and irritable. I accordingly gave up trying to feed it, 

 wlien it crawled up the angle of its cage, which was perforated 

 zinc all round and had a lifting lid at the top, the lid being off 

 at the time. When it got to the top it clung across the corner, 

 head down with one foot on each side of the box, hanging 

 across the angle. In this position it gave birth to a young one, 

 and I much regretted that I had no camera handy at the time, 

 as a splendid photograph or two might easily have been obtained 

 whilst the Bat was in this position. As soon as ever the head 

 of the baby Bat protruded it commenced to squeak lustily. The 

 young one was quite free in about four minutes' time, and 

 worked its way under the shoulder of its mother, and so round 

 •on to her back, where it clung quite exposed, head downwards. 

 There was no after-birth, and the mother seemed little worse 

 for the ordeal she had gone through, but busied herself with 

 washing and brushing her fur all over for a long time after- 

 wards, taking no notice of 'baby,' who kept on squeaking 

 shrilly all the while. The note of the young Noctule is a single 

 ■chirrup even more highly pitched than the note of the adult. 

 It is so penetrating that when only but a few days old I could 

 hear the young Bat calling after I had gone to bed at night, 

 though it was in a cage downstairs, and in a room not directly 

 under my bedroom. 



Being doubtful whether the Noctule could rear both her own 

 and the foster child, I removed the latter rather than run the 

 risk of losing both. The morning after the birth of the young 

 one I found the mother had deserted it, and it was hanging 

 downw^ards on the cage side some little distance from her. This 



1905 November i. 



