Animal life of the British Isles : $b a pocket guide to the mammals, reptiles and batrachians of wayside and woodlandStep, Edward
History
Animal life of the British Isles : $b a pocket guide to the mammals, reptiles and batrachians of wayside and woodland
Step, Edward
Animals -- Great Britain
As already indicated, the flight of this Bat is usually low, and it
alights to consume its prey, which it presses against the wing membrane,
the interfemoral pouch not being large enough for the purpose. Its
food consists chiefly of the larger beetles, such as cockchafers and
dor-beetles, the quick-running ground-beetle _Pterostichus_, moths,
flies, bees, and caddis-flies. It appears to be a thirsty creature,
and may be seen lapping water. It takes its daytime sleep in caves,
dark buildings, lofts and roofs. It may hang singly or crowd into
crevices. Mr. Coward found it in the Cheddar caves hanging in bunches.
Their overhead resorts are revealed by heaps of excrement below. Their
natural resting attitude is hanging by the feet head downwards. They
cannot walk on a flat surface, and before alighting on a vertical one
they turn a somersault in the air to get the proper position. Their
senses are so acute that Mr. Chas. Oldham says: "Even when sunk in
winter sleep they appreciate a man's approach. The eyes are, of course,
then shrouded by the wings, and the sense of danger must be conveyed
to them either by hearing, smell, or, as seems to be most probable,
by the exercise of their extraordinary tactile sense, which enables
them to actually feel the approaching danger."
There is but one young at a birth, which occurs at the end of June or in
July. Its eyes are closed, and the underside is quite naked and the skin
purple. The eyes open about the tenth day.
The Larger Horse-shoe Bat has an extensive distribution. From England
it is found through Central Europe and the Mediterranean region, through
the Himalayas to China and southern Japan. In our own country it is
found chiefly in the South-west of England, South and West Wales, but
does not occur in either Scotland or Ireland. The presence or absence
of caves suitable for a winter retreat appears to have some bearing upon
its distribution.
*Lesser Horse-shoe Bat* (_Rhinolophus hipposideros_, Bechstein).
The Lesser Horse-shoe Bat is much smaller and more delicately built than
the species last described. The nose-leaf has a narrower outline and its
sella is more wedge-shaped; the lancet slender with a wedge-shaped tip.
The expanse of wings is less than ten inches, and the length of the
forearm is only an inch and a half. The colour is much the same as in
the larger species, but somewhat darker above and more yellow below.
Its habits are similar also, but, naturally, it does not hunt such large
beetles, nor does it fly so low. It has a more fluttering flight with
intervals of gliding. Its "tchek-tchek" cry is of lower pitch than in
most Bats, and Oldham compares it to a diminutive of the alarm-note of
the Greater Spotted Woodpecker.
The single young one is born somewhat later than in the last species: it
is born like the other with a thin coat of downy hair on the upper side
only.
Males, apparently, are more numerous than females.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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