Whitaker : Notes on the Breeding Habits of Bats. 329 



her, trying- to walk, with its hind feet projecting- from under its 

 mother and close to hers, so that she seemed to have four back 

 feet, all working out of time. The effect was decidedly comical. 

 In spite of this the ' baby' did not seem to hamper its mother's 

 movements very much when she was crawling-. When dis- 

 engaged from its mother the young one would cling with 

 extraordinary tenacity to the gauze side of its cage, or to a 

 handkerchief on which we once or twice photographed it, and 

 great care was necessary to remove it without injury from any- 

 thing of which it had got a firm hold. 



One night I allowed the mother, who had brought her 

 youngster out to supper, to try to fly with it, but she hesitated 

 a long while before making the attempt, and when she did so 

 only flew the length of the room, and then dropped rather 

 heavily upon the floor, the young- one remaining under her right 

 wing- all the time. 



The mother consumed an average of about seven dozen 

 mealworms per day, that is about a quarter of an ounce of food. 

 Besides this I gave her sundry moths and a few caterpillars and 

 pupai, which seemed equally welcome. One day I put a fine 

 Poplar Hawk Moth in the cage alive. She caught it and ate it 

 instantly. 



On nth July, when the young- one was eleven days old, 

 I examined it, and found that it was still blind and naked, and 

 apparently about in the same condition as the first youngster 

 was when we found it in the tree ; from this it would appear 

 that growth is slow. 



On the evening- of that day the adult Bat managed to tear 

 a hole through the gauze of its cage and escape from the house 

 through the open door, leaving- the young one behind it in the 

 cage. I saw it flying about over the garden at about ten 

 o'clock, and several times it flew close to the house front, and 

 hovered once in front of the door. Unfortunately the young- 

 one was not calling- at the time, or 1 feel sure it would have 

 returned to it. 



As I was most anxious to get it back if possible, I put the 

 cage containing the young one in the garden, with the door 

 slightly open, and sat up all night watching- it. The youngster 

 g-ot cold and restless, and commenced to call loudly at about 

 eleven o'clock, and kept it up incessantly after that. My eyes 

 were getting- rather heavy, and about two a.m. I walked through 

 the house into the kitchen, and washed my face with cold water 

 to refresh myself before returning to my vigil. I had been 



1905 November i. 



