220 FAUNA OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA 



marsupials, and beyond controversy it is the headquarter 

 region of that remarkable class of mammals ; but placental 

 animals are more abundant in species in the great southern 

 continent than seems to be generally realised, and in 

 numbers of individuals some of the last named group far 

 exceed any of the marsupials, the kangaroo and wallaby 

 genera perhaps excepted. The native rats and mice, 

 which are not marsupials, abound to such an extent in 

 many parts of the Swan River and Champion Bay districts, 

 that large tracts of country are completely honeycombed 

 with their burrows. I have found spots over which it 

 was impossible to walk, owing to the fatigue occasioned 

 by sinking in up to the knee at every step. 



Other exceedingly prolific animals of the placental 

 type are the so-called "vampires," which, though not 

 previously mentioned, are almost omnipresent throughout 

 the western districts. Go where one will in this part of 

 the country, he will hear the howling of the wild dog (not 

 a marsupial) and be disturbed by the shrill screeching of 

 the vampires, as the colonists persistently insist on calling 

 them. They are really fruit-bats, and as guileless of blood- 

 seeking as the most innocent of animals, but prejudice is 

 rife against them, and they suffer to some extent in 

 consequence. 



Where they have not been destroyed, the number of 

 bats is very great and the species is much varied. I am 

 not sure that I have noted all, but there are at least a dozen 

 or fourteen different kinds in the country between the 

 Swan and the Gascoyne. These are not all fruit-bats, 

 and they differ widely in appearance, colour, and habits. 

 The commonest and largest of the fruit-bats in the Champion 

 Bay district is the red-necked fruit-bat, which seems to be 

 specifically different from Pteropus poliocephalus. This 

 bat flies in large troops at almost all hours of the day, 

 and the noise it makes is surprising. Notwithstanding that 

 it is about in the daytime, flights of them roam about also 

 far into the night, especially when the moon is shining 

 brightly, and the noise of their screaming, which is exceed- 

 ingly shrill and loud, effectually prevents the sleep of the 



