40 THE ANIMALS OP NEW ZEALAND 



The Long-tailed Bat. — Pekapeka. 



CJialiiioJohus morio. 



Dark brown on the head and neck, passing into dark chestnut brown 

 posteriorly. Length of the third finger 2.7 in. New Zealand and south- 

 east of Australia. 



The long-tailed bat, with short ears, is spread over New 

 Zealand and is much more numerous than the short-tailed bat. It 

 belongs to a species that is found in New Zealand and south-east 

 Australia, to a genus that occurs in Australian and Ethiopian 

 regions, and to a family that is cosmopolitan. Up to about 1885, 



iVoij. En'hux and Tcrrm:) 

 Long-tailed Bat. 



it was common about Christchurch, l)ut it is thought that the 

 destruction of the old wooden bridges over the Avon, where 

 numbers used to gather together, has driven it away. It 

 measures about two inches in total length, being slightly smaller 

 than the other species, and is about the same size as the 

 " flittermouse, " the commonest species in England. 



At one time it was thought that the long-tailed bats, unlike 

 those in the Old Country, lived solitary lives, and were averse 

 from forming themselves into connnunities. Experiments and 

 closer examinations, however, have proved that great numbers 

 of our bats live together in hollow trees in the bush. ]\Ir. R. 

 Caldwell, a district surveyor in the North Island, supplied Sir 



