NOBTH AUSTRALIAN MAMMALIA. 201 



Perameles obesula. 



This little bandicoot was very numerous in the coast country 

 around Roebuck Bay, Western Australia. A small grass nest, 

 quite simply built on the ground or in a hollow, forms their place 

 of resort, which, when in danger, they readily quit to hide under 

 another similar cover in the neighbourhood. 



Great numbers being brought to me by the natives, I used to 

 keep them in captivity, in order to investigate some of their 

 habits. The adults did not, as a rule, seem to thrive in cap- 

 tivity, nor to attain confidence in the handling of man. The 

 young ones, on the contrary, became perfect pets, and seemed 

 to delight in crawling up one's hand and arm, or to sleep in one's 

 pockets. 



Besides being little shy of man, they exhibited great playful- 

 ness, and I well remember the amusing ways of a young animal 

 which I placed in the cage with some adults. The moment it 

 was liberated it ran over to one of the others, and, like a kitten, 

 commenced to pat with its fore paws the snout of the old one, 

 licked it, pushed it, and threw itself down on its back. In this 

 position it lay twisting itself and kicking the snout of the old 

 animal in mere playfulness, like a kitten playing with its mother. 

 They lick their fur in the same way as a cat. They walk on the 

 same principle as the Macropodiclce, separately moving the fore 

 and hind feet, but their short feeble tail does not, of course, 

 afford them any support. 



Sleeping throughout the day, they lie on the side rolled up 

 like a cat, but towards sundown commence moving. Sometimes 

 drowsiness seems to overpower them again, and then they sit 

 with the hind part of the body shut up, the hind legs well tucked 

 in under the body, the chest touching the ground, and the head 

 resting on the fore legs, which are stretched straight forward. 

 The animals in the evening would greedily drink water, which 

 they daintily licked, and rice or crumbs of wheat-bread seemed to 

 give them sufficient nutriment. The species appears to require 

 a great deal of water, and their tracks are always seen by the 

 cattle-wells near Roebuck Bay, the only places where water 

 may be obtained in these deserts. In places where water is abso- 

 lutely absent, the dew seems sufficient for their wants. A few 



