Like the red bat, it lives in the open, hanging from twigs and leaves in the tops of trees or bushes in the broad light of day rather than in the dark, stifling crevices where so many of its kind pass their lives. It appears to hang up indifferently on any convenient tree or bush, including conifers, aspens, or willows. During the day it has a curious lack of alertness, and as it is not rarely attached to low branches or bushes within a few feet of the ground it may be readily approached and taken in the hand. I once captured a fine specimen the middle of May, in southern California, hanging on a bush about four feet from the ground. It appeared to be sound asleep until taken by the skin on the back of the neck, when it became very much alive and, struggling in a fury, uttered grating shrieks of rage, baring its sharp, white teeth and trying desperately to bite. Its food is made up entirely of insects, which it appears to hunt higher up than most bats, sweeping over the tops of the forest and in and out about the trees. It appears to be of even more solitary habits than the red bat and is nowhere so common. Another reason for our lack of information concerning it is found in its strictly nocturnal habits, for it rarely appears until shortly before the approaching night hides it from view. The hoary bat shares with the red species the distinction of bearing from two to four young each year. The young are born in June and are carried attached to the underside of the mother’s body until they become too heavy a burden. They hang to the teats with the greatest tenacity and apparently rely mainly on this hold to prevent being dropped as they are carried on the wild aërial hunting excursions. With the unusual fecundity indicated by the number of young, it is difficult to account for the scarcity of these bats unless their habit of hanging in the open, exposed to the elements and to other dangers, may cause a heavy mortality among them. NOTE.--The attention of the reader is called to an error on page 566, where the Little Brown Bat, _Myotis lucifugus_, on the tree trunk, a common species throughout most of North America, is labeled “Hoary Bat, _Nycteris cinereus_,” which is a much larger and very different animal. [Illustration: THE TRACK OF A COYOTE This track cannot be distinguished with certainty from that of a small dog (see pages 596 and 597). The greater size of the side toes in the hind track I have often noticed, but there is no corresponding disproportion in the animal’s foot.] =THE MEXICAN BAT= (=Nyctinomus mexicanus= and its subspecies) (_For illustration, see page 567_)