look cover quickly, as it at aimed. 

 About the same time, the |oey and 

 then the male appeared at the 

 ori „j, i;i | place, and soon afterwards 

 lhi r female joined them (see Fie. 7). 



On Id January, Mr. Keith Demp- 

 sUM research officer of the Fisheries 

 , n j Wildlile Department, accom- 

 LjiJed Hathard and myself to the 

 ^tagC point, and we observed the 

 male 'and the joey at the original 

 basking place. Later, one Of us 

 ,„ om | round and obseivcd thai the 

 It-male was again on the broad 

 .a-essed ledge (sec Fig. 8). Fventu- 

 ; ,||v she took cover, as before, and 

 at the same lime the other two left 

 Iheir basking place. Then the three 

 were seen moving down together 

 ihrough a narrow declivity between 

 iuo rOck masses, and finally one of 

 iIk adults jumped up to the mmmal 

 basking place, paused a moment to 

 look at us. then passed out of sight 

 into the dark crevice system beyond. 

 Those observations lasted from 9.15 

 u> 10.15 a.m. 



The female and joey were bluish- 

 crc-v in general body colour, with 

 h,„Kk I eel and tail black. The male 

 W similar but with a slronc rufous 

 jnfe&n about the lower narts of h.s 

 hodv. Backs of cars. loneitudin il 

 head strire. and a natch behind each 

 shoulder, were also black. Inside the 

 "as fawn, ;uid the chest as well 

 as the lower sides of the face were 

 whitish The male was larger than the 

 female, and each of the adul's 

 appeared to be vcrv plum", due n 

 least partly to the lone I or of the 

 hodv The general colouration, and 

 Ihe very long h.nr of the tail, identify 

 the species as Peuw-uh' renirill,K,i. 



While basking, the wallahies spent 

 lOiiMdcMhlt- time grooming Ihem- 

 vlKcs. both with the claws ol the 

 hwria and with the small con|<»mcd 

 7nd and 3rd digits on the inner 



April, 1971 



side of the foot. After using one ot 

 these "twin toes" as a comb, the 

 animal would lick the organ, evidently 

 to clear it of accumulated fur. 

 Precisely the same procedures are 



characteristic of a number of macro- 



podid species — the Brush Wall tin 

 Mticroinis nifot;ri\cus\ tor example. 



Hnhlun 



The rock-wallaby colony area is 

 on a northern aspect in Devonian 

 sandstone formation, and it extends 

 fo~ approximately a quarter-mile 

 (400 m.) T he elevation is Irom ahout 

 I -no i,, I ()()() feel (400-500 m ) above 



t if!Uie 3 Pail pf crevice system ot 

 met -walUdn home. Red Rock atea. 

 uopf I'd N»k k "i sffi " '"' v 



tin. Imvrr n.ck>. ntltt Hull Ml}. ••»■- * ,v 



97 



