THE SHORT-TAILED BAT 41 



Walter Biiller with some iul^resting information in this respect. 

 "I left Carterton, together with two companions," he says, "for 

 a walk into the hills, at the right-hand side of Waiohine, going by 

 way of the Belvedere Road. AVe got fairly up the hills by about 

 10 a.m., and climbed a high range, covered with black beech. 

 Getting warm, we sat down on the moss to rest. Then my 

 attention was attracted by a smell of a kind I had not noticed in 

 the bush before, and one that reminded me of a flying-fox camp in 

 Queensland. I followed the smell for some distance to a large 

 beech tree, with an opening about four feet from the ground. 

 I had evidently traced the smell to its source, for at the opening 

 it was fairly stifling. I could see nothing, so I lighted a bunch 

 of dry leaves and thrust it through the opening into the. tree. 

 As I did this, a bat flew out in my face, another, and another. 

 The smoke increased, and the bats streamed out in hundreds. 

 I had no means of computing the number; but one of my men, 

 having a small switch in his hand, kept striking at the stream, 

 the result of which I afterwards counted. There were exactly 

 a hundred bats killed. For one killed, at least ten must have 

 passed and flown away. Large numbers dropped down in 

 clusters through the blazing opening. I had no idea there were so 

 many bats in the Wairarapa, and would not have believed it 

 had I not seen them. I have never seen in New Zealand such 

 another collection. ' ' 



In 1893, a man took twenty-two living bats in a box to Mr. 

 T. F. Cheeseman's office in Auckland. He stated that he had 

 been bush-felling near Reweti, on the Kaipara railway. A tree 

 was cut down, and as it struck the ground, the men were 

 surprised to see numbers of bats fly from the upper branches. 

 Running to the spot, they found clusters of the creatures still 

 clinging to the branches, and they collected about thirty. 



Mr. Cheeseman, being anxious to see how they would behave 

 in a room with closed doors and windows, liberated them. The 

 experiment justified, to some extent, the belief that bats enjoy 

 an acute sense of touch, probably unequalled throughout the 

 animal kingdom. They took to their wings at once, and com- 

 menced to circle round the room with that quick, soft, and 



