244 THE PORT DARWIN DISTRICT 



prey to pieces without noticing my presence and appar- 

 ently oblivious of it. When, however, I attempted to 

 approach nearer, they retired to a distance, snarling and 

 howling. Afterwards I camped close by, and could hear 

 the dingoes quarrelling fiercely over the bones of the 

 unfortunate kangaroo, which, though of large size, was not 

 of either of the two largest species. As already stated, it 

 is doubtful if the dingo ever dares to attack an " old man," 

 or a red kangaroo. 



While in the deserts on the west side of the continent 

 scarcely a day elapsed but I heard the howling of dingoes, 

 though the animals were not seen so frequently ; and lest 

 this circumstance should be construed into a contradiction 

 of my previous assertion that dingoes are not so numerous 

 as some writers appear to think, I may remark that these 

 widely spread animals are in the habit of howling at all 

 hours of the day and night, and as they can be heard a 

 very long distance it is not surprising that their presence 

 in a neighbourhood should be soon perceived. A pair of 

 dogs, or at most a family party of six or eight, seem to 

 arrogate to themselves the sole right of hunting over a 

 certain district, and I have observed frequently that they 

 resent the intrusion of others of their kind, except at 

 certain seasons of the year. They often fight savagely 

 together, and I have seen trapped, poisoned, or shot 

 dingoes which bore many marks of former frays. Dingoes 

 also have a habit of following travellers and parties of the 

 natives ; especially if they are accompanied by dogs, or 

 half-tamed dingoes. 



At the foot of the ridge on which I passed the night, 

 there was a swampy wood of about four hundred acres in 

 extent, the bark of the trees of which was covered with a 

 luminous fungus or lichen, which glistened very brightly 

 when darkness had completely set in. I have seen this 

 fungus in several other parts of the country, not only on 

 the west side, but also on the east, and especially in some 

 of the swampy forests of North Queensland. 



The same wood was haunted by a flight of bats, one of 

 which flew against my lanthorn (suspended in a tree), and, 



