NEW ZEALAND BATS. 81 



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 dis- 

 tance to a large birch-tree, with an opening about 4 ft. 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, then 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 arid 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 another 

 such collection." My first comment on reading this account was 

 disgust and indignation at the wanton slaughter of these rare and 

 inoffensive animals. Buller adds that " most unfortunately the 

 fire took possession of the tree, which was in a very dry and com- 

 bustible state, and the whole colony perished in the conflagration." 

 It is no wonder these animals have become rare ! 



Cheeseman records numerous other instances of the great con- 

 gregations of these bats in bush-covered districts. Many hundreds 

 were found in a hollow tree in the Wangapeka Valley, Nelson, in 

 1881. Later on a colony of several hundreds was found in the 

 Thames; and in 1893 a bushfeller in the Kaipara district found 

 hundreds of them in a tree which he cut down. He brought twenty- 

 two of them alive in a box to Mr. Cheeseman, who, 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 commenced to circle round tne room with that 

 quick, soft, and noiseless flight which they are enabled to pursue 

 by means of their velvety wings. The presence of full daylight 

 did not affect them in the slightest degree, and they made no mis- 

 take in estimating their distance from an object. They circled 



4 Wild Life in N.Z. 



