Cheeseman. —0/i Neiv Zealand Bats. 221 



peka, and sought out this man, obtainmg the following account 

 of his discovery. He was at work with his mate cutting rimu 

 timber for mining purposes. They had selected a tree for 

 felling, but after cutting some distance into it had found that 

 it was hollow, and had therefore decided to leave it and pass 

 on to another. Accidentally they noticed that some bats 

 were flitting about the trunk of the tree, and they soon found 

 that they were emerging from a hole leading from the hollow 

 interior, no doubt having been disturbed by the blows of their 

 axes. Some bunches of dried grass were set on fire and thrown 

 into the cavity, w^hich they also probed with a long rod. The 

 result was that they disturbed an immense number of bats — 

 according to them, several hundreds. They emerged from the 

 hole in a continuous stream, flitted round about the tree in an 

 aimless manner for some time, several remaining an hour or 

 more in the vicinity, but at length disappeai-ed into the 

 adjacent forest. The interior of the tree was slightly charred 

 by the burning grass which the men had thrown into it, and 

 apparently this deterred the bats from resuming possession of 

 their home, for on visiting the tree some months afterwards 

 not a single bat could be found. 



Several years after this my friend Mr. J. W. Hall, of the 

 Thames, wrote informing me that some bushmen had found a 

 considerable number of bats in a hollow tree, and that several 

 of them were in the possession of Mr. Price, a local taxider- 

 mist. I succeeded in obtaining two of these specimens from 

 Mr. Price for the Museum, and from him and from Mr. Hall 

 I gathered the following particulars of the find : Some four 

 or five bushmen had proceeded to Kerikeri, a few miles from 

 the Thames, for the purpose of collecting wild honey. They 

 found a hive, and cut open the tree to take the honey from it. 

 In doing this they dislodged a considerable number of bats. 

 The number was not estimated ; but, as each of the men 

 carried home several, one man in particular having a kerosene- 

 tin filled with them, it must have been large, more especially 

 as the men stated that what they caught was only a small 

 fraction of what escaped. The species was the short-eared 

 bat. 



I have now only one other instance to mention. A few 

 months ago a man who gave his name as McDonald came 

 into my office with a box containing twenty-two living bats. 

 I purchased them from him for a few shillings, and he gave 

 me the following account of how he obtained them : He and 

 another man were engaged in bushfelling near Eeweti, on the 

 Kaipara Railway. They cut down a tree, the upper portion 

 of which was loaded witli creepers and epiphytes. When the 

 tree fell and struck the ground the men were amazed to see 

 numbers of bats fly from the upper branches. Eunning to 



