NOTES ON OXON BATS. 
151 
certainly bi’ou^^lit very much into play. Though the beetle has been 
placed on a large hook, my failure to capture any noctules in this way 
leads me to suppose that the prey is usually taken by the jaws, for 
were the hook enclosed by the wing, the hook would retain its hold, 
as I shall presently show when speaking of the whiskered bat. 
{h). Capture .—One way of taking them, which I have occasionally 
found to answer, is to hold up a fishing-rod just under the line of 
flight, when the animal will almost always stoop towards it, and a 
dexterous blow of the rod lays him prostrate. Another way is to wait 
until the bat leaves its home in the hollow tree, when by holding a 
gauze net under the orifice you may capture the whole colony. 
(c) . Habits in Confinement .—Noctules possess a very rank and 
nauseous smell, which becomes intolerable when any number are 
confined in restricted quarters. But the noctule is very careful of its 
personal appearance. I have kept several examples in captivity, and 
they invariably took the greatest pains to have an even parting down 
the back, which was thus obtained. The noctule suspended itself 
from the roof of the cage, head downwards; then leaving hold with 
one foot proceeded to comb out the fur on one side with its long claws 
previously damped by the application of its tongue, repeating the 
operation on the other side in the same way. When this task had 
been satisfactorily performed, each wing was carefully smoothed out, 
and ears and tail were cleaned. In the absence of live food, noctules 
will accept shredded meat. 
( d) . Description, etc .—The colour of the noctule is normally a dark 
chesnut brown, but it is very liable to variation, owing, I think, to age 
and development. I have taken specimens pied with grey, also with 
black, and sometimes a light colour round the neck. The young (two 
at a birth) are black and covered with down ; they accompany their 
parent during her flight, clinging to her fur with their claws. When 
these bats are taken in the spring they are thin and comparatively 
light; in the autumn the females become exceedingly fat. The lips 
are much distended in the male, enclosing two lobes of fat. When the 
animal is provoked it exposes these glands, which give out a musky 
odour, but what their real function is I have failed to ascertain. 
IV.—The Whiskekei) Bat. 
(a). General .—This species is rather rare in the neighbourhood of 
Oxford ; at all events it is seldom identified. That such is the case is 
partly, I think, due to the localities it frequents, viz., the surface of 
pools and rivers, over which it skims at an elevation of some two 
inches above the water. It feeds chiefly on Ephemeridse and those 
small moths the larvas of which feed on the sedges and other water- 
plants that line the river. One peculiarity of this bat, which readily 
distinguishes it from the host of others which occasionally swarm in 
the neighbourhood of rivers, is its curious cry, which exactly resembles 
the clicking of a cog-wheel and chain, and which is constantly repeated 
as it flits along. 
