The Bats 5 7
in that neighbourhood, he concluded that his Bats had migrated thither and
had settled down.1 Mr. Eardley Hall, who now lives in Mr. Borrer’s old
house at Henfield, informs me that the Serotines are still there, but I did not
see anything of them when visiting there in 1901, 1902, and 1903. Mr. Hall has
not seen them during the last two years.2 He discovered a colony of Serotines
in the Vicarage, Burpham, near Arundel, in April 1893, when he counted
eighteen in all, and while handling them was so severely bitten that blood was
drawn.3 In the following year he found that there was a colony in Arundel
church; and two Serotines, identified by Mr. W. B. Ellis, were taken from the
church on October 5, 1893, while another was obtained from a locality a few miles
distant,4 from which we may conclude that the Serotine occurs regularly in this
district. Another colony, consisting of about twenty Bats, exists at Guestling
Rectory, near Hastings; 6 the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield writes me, saying that he
first noticed the Bats there in 1888. The Serotine is also known to occur at
Fairlight, near Hastings.
Mr. H. Laver failed to find this species in Essex, but Mr. Miller Christy added
it to the list of Essex mammals. Some time prior to the sixties one was shot at
Coggeshall, and Mr. Christy identified the specimen, which had been preserved,6 and
he captured one himself in his bedroom at Pryors, Broomfield, on August 25, 1894.7
The Serotine is rare in Hampshire. The late Lord Lilford had specimens
sent him from that county,8 and he was of opinion that it also occurred in Northamptonshire
; but Mr. L. E. Adams,9 though describing the Bat as rare and
local, does not produce any further evidence of its occurrence than Lord Lilford’s
supposition. In the Isle of Wight it is commoner, being reported by the Rev.
C. Bury, Messrs. Bond, Hadfield and Moore,10 and others, from Bonchurch, Sandown,
Freshwater, and Ventnor. All appear to be agreed, however, that it is rare
nowadays in the island, and I failed to obtain a single specimen in 1902.
According to several writers the Serotine has occurred near London, but
Mr. J. E. Harting failed to find that it had been noticed in the county of
Middlesex. In the Midlands its occurrence seems to be very casual, and I can
only find one or two reliable instances: Mr. Coburn informs me that some
years ago one was sent to him which had been captured in the neighbourhood
1 Zoologist, 1874, pp. 4, 126.
3 Zoologist', 1893, pp. 223, 224.
6 Ibid. 1883, p. 173.
9 Viet. County H ist., ‘ Hants.’
* In 1903 Mr. Hall again reports Serotines as fairly numerous at Henfield.
* Ibid. 1893, p. 458. * Ibid. 1894, p. 261. 1 Ibid. 1894, p. 423. 8 Ibid. 1887, p. 65.
10 Harting,. Zoologist, 1891, p. 201.
VOL. I.