BRITISH MAMMALS 
The belief that it was a rare species in the British Islands is now 
known to be without foundation, as it is common, and probably always 
has been, in places suited to its water-loving habits. 
Gilbert White, writing to Pennant in 1767, mentions having seen 
some years before that date, " myriads of bats " between Richmond and 
Sunbury, and that "the air swarmed with them all along the Thames"; 
these masses are most likely to have consisted chiefly of Daubenton's Bats. 
Another favourite haunt is Christchurch, Hampshire, where Mr. 
Borrer found it in abundance in 1874, and according to Mr. Miilais 
" it is just as common now." 
The late R. F. Tomes in Bell's 'British Quadrupeds (2nd ed. p. 62) 
says, " We have sometimes seen these Bats so thick on the Avon, near to 
Stratford, that at certain spots there could not have been fewer than 
one to every square yard." 
It is plentifully distributed throughout the greater part of England 
and Wales, and is also common in various localities in Scotland, where, 
according to Dr. Eagle Clarke Scott. 3^t. Hist. 1892, p. 266), 
it has been recorded as far north as Fochabers on the Spey. 
It also appears to be widely spread over Ireland. 
This species has been aptly called the ' Water Bat,' by Major Barrett- 
Hamilton, who thus describes its habits {A History of British Mammals., 
part iii. p. 149) : " So peculiar are the vespertinal habits of this species, 
that, although it is locally abundant, an ordinary observer may be quite 
unconscious of its existence. It is essentially aquatic, if such an expression 
be applicable to an animal which never enters the water. It haunts that 
element continually, flying so close to it that it is difficult to distinguish 
between the creature itself and its reflection." 
I had not come across this Bat in Surrey until this spring (1920), 
when in February, requiring specimens for the Plate, I made several 
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