Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/229

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This little bandicoot was very numerous in the coast country around Roebuck Bay, Western Australia. A small grass nest, quite simply built on the ground or in a hollow, forms their place of resort, which, when in danger, they readily quit to hide under another similar cover in the neighbourhood.

Great numbers being brought to me by the natives, I used to keep them in captivity, in order to investigate some of their habits. The adults did not, as a rule, seem to thrive in captivity, nor to attain confidence in the handling of man. The young ones, on the contrary, became perfect pets, and seemed to delight in crawling up one's hand and arm, or to sleep in one's pockets.

Besides being little shy of man, they exhibited great playfulness, and I well remember the amusing ways of a young animal which I placed in the cage with some adults. The moment it was liberated it ran over to one of the others, and, like a kitten, commenced to pat with its fore paws the snout of the old one, licked it, pushed it, and threw itself down on its back. In this position it lay twisting itself and kicking the snout of the old animal in mere playfulness, like a kitten playing with its mother. They lick their fur in the same way as a cat. They walk on the same principle as the Macropodidæ, separately moving the fore and hind feet, but their short feeble tail does not, of course, afford them any support.

Sleeping throughout the day, they lie on the side rolled up like a cat, but towards sundown commence moving. Sometimes drowsiness seems to overpower them again, and then they sit with the hind part of the body shut up, the hind legs well tucked in under the body, the chest touching the ground, and the head resting on the fore legs, which are stretched straight forward. The animals in the evening would greedily drink water, which they daintily licked, and rice or crumbs of wheat-bread seemed to give them sufficient nutriment. The species appears to require a great deal of water, and their tracks are always seen by the cattle-wells near Roebuck Bay, the only places where water may be obtained in these deserts. In places where water is absolutely absent, the dew seems sufficient for their wants. A few