Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/219

Rh I was once sitting on the bank of the Victoria river at sundown not far from a large camping ground. The bats came flying past me along the river, and, watch in hand, I commenced counting them as well as I could. After some time I arrived at the result that, superficially speaking, more than three hundred bats were passing every minute. Faster I could not count, and for more than two hours the living current continued pouring past me. According to this the camp must have numbered at least 32,000 individuals, a figure which may by no means be considered too high.

The P. gouldii is not very shy, and falls an easy victim to the gun of the traveller. Its fat flesh is not bad eating, and the natives consider it a great delicacy, the strong smell of eucalyptus peculiar to these animals evidently forming one of its greatest attractions... [sic] Having killed a bat the aborigines will with utter satisfaction smell and even bite the fur of the dead body.

On the Victoria river I observed them breeding in March and April. The two young constantly adhere to their mother's breasts, which, as in most other Chiroptera, are situate in the arm-pits, and they cling to the thick fur of the mother, both when she is on the wing and resting. In this latter position the folded wings of the animal form a secure shelter for the helpless young.

Being of a pugnacious temper and very irritable, a wounded Flying Fox will pluckily attack the legs of the hunter; and, disturbed in their feeding grounds or in the camp, the bats exude their stinking excrements on the intruder.

This by no means common species was observed on the Daly river occasionally accompanying the mobs of P. gouldii on their feeding grounds. As to whether the two species make use of the same camping grounds, I cannot express a definite opinion. I can only state that on examining a number of Flying Foxes shot at night when feeding a few P. scapulatus would generally be found. The rest were P. gouldii.

This rare little species is new to the fauna of the Australian continent, and has hitherto been recorded only from New Guinea.