Knut Dahl

“ At sundown the bats commence travelling, sometimes great distances, to reach a patch of the forest where the Eucalypti are in blossom, the flowers of these trees forming their principal food. A constant string of animals is then for hours issuing from the camp, and the observer who posts himself on their roving route may to a certain extent form an idea of their numbers. ”

“ But it strikes me that there is a circumstance which may have forced the Echidna from the plains and restricted it to the broken regions. There is no doubt that an animal burrowing in the soil is more exposed to persecution by the aborigines—the only enemy of the Echidna—than one hiding beneath the colossal boulders in the granite and sandstone formations; and I have no hesitation in expressing my opinion that the occurrence of the Echidna only in the rocky regions of Arnhem Land is in all probability due to the steady persecution of the natives. ”

“ Once on the Daly I shot a single specimen on an unknown mountain on the eastern side of the river, about one hundred miles from the river mouth. Subsequently I met the species in the broken granitic country around Mount Gardiner, to the west of the river Mary, and there it occurred in great numbers.
Deep in the caverns and crevices amongst the colossal granite boulders, where the rays of the sun never reach, the little wary "Bolwak" spends the day, sleeping lightly. It is easily disturbed, and will with astonishing agility flee from rock to rock. ”

“ The food of the Dingo in the vast forests and deserts of the north consists, as a rule, of smaller vertebrates, chiefly various species of lizards, Coniluridæ and Muridæ, a fact which is strongly indicated by the almost constant presence of their bones in the excrements of the animal. I do not deny that a young Macropod or Emu occasionally forms its diet, perhaps with an additional egg or young bird; but the Dingo chiefly depends on smaller animals for its existence. Its habits are sneaking and cowardly, and I hardly consider it capable of attacking a kangaroo its own size. ”

“ Nimbly skipping amongst the sand-heaps and the scanty herbage, the agile animals very soon saunter off in search of food. All night they are roaming about feeding, and, according to my experience, they never drink, at least during the dry season. Their tracks were never seen near any well nor on the shore of the ocean, and, although a watering trough for cattle was situated within two hundred yards of one of the places where I used to procure my specimens, I invariably failed in discovering tracks of the animals at the little pool of water which procured its supply from the leaking trough. ”

“ Such a "Flying Fox camp" is never perfectly quiet, and even in the middle of the day numbers are flitting about in and around the trees uttering their hoarse shrieks, and the cause of this restlessness may be found in the fact that one individual is not able to settle down in this enormous mass of animals without disturbing others. ”

“ In Arnhem Land, on Victoria River, and around Roebuck Bay, the Wild Dog was common, but mostly occurred singly or in pairs, the large packs described in the tales of bushmen as haunting Central Australia having never been observed by the author.
The hot day is usually spent sleeping in the shade of an anthill or in a patch of long grass, and sundown is the signal for the dogs to commence hunting. It is a common belief that the Dingoes literally hunt their prey down in packs, but no such proceeding ever came to my notice. ”

“ The "Red Wallaroo" is nearly always met with in great mobs, consisting of females, young, and young males. "Old men" or adult males are very often found single, or sometimes accompanied by a female, and strong animals of any sex or age may sometimes be observed single; but typically M. antilopinus is a gregarious animal.
In some mountain valley, or in the shade of some trees, the animals form what is commonly termed a "camp"; that is, each animal scratches a slight depression in the sandy soil, and there neatly coils itself up to sleep during the hottest part of the day. ”

“ Arnhem Land was inhabited not only by Mus rattus, but by a number of small species of the genus Mus, the specific determination of which has proved impossible, chiefly owing to the small series of specimens collected. These forms are undoubtedly indigenous to the country, and belong to the original fauna of Australia. They are so numerous and so widely distributed, even to the remotest parts of Arnhem Land, that they can scarcely be considered as introduced. In places where the white man had seldom, if ever before, trod, they seemed to occur in the greatest numbers. ”

“ The stone seems to afford a better hold for their rough-soled feet than the soil, and they always, when running, keep to the rock, turning and twisting themselves with cat-like cleverness, and running up or down apparently perpendicular cliffs with the same ease as on the level. ”

“ Whether this tapeworm, which reaches an enormous length and very likely at full development causes the death of the animal, is transmissible to man or not, I am unable to express any opinion. The natives never seemed to suffer from a similar complaint.
At sundown the animal will come out, feeding all the night on seeds, herbs, and insects. With rice as a bait it is easily trapped, and occasionally it will visit the pack-bags of the traveller when encamped for the night. It drinks frequently.
More than one young was never found in the pouch of the female. ”

“ In the sandy country surrounding Roebuck Bay, Western Australia, the ground was nearly everywhere and in all directions excavated by the burrows of this little Macropod, which by the aborigines of the place is called "Jalva," and by the few Europeans generally termed "Kangaroo-rat." The animals avoid the open plains, but all the scrubs, and especially the slopes of the gently rising and falling sandhills, are inhabited by countless numbers. ”

“ After some time the animals would return, first the young ones, then the adults, and very soon the camp life would go on as usual. The young animals would, according to his statement, exhibit great agility and playfulness, fight and box each others' ears, whereas the old individuals were more lazy and slow in their movements. An old Kangaroo will, with an utterly comical expression in its stupid face, stretch its huge limbs and scratch its ears like a sleepy man. ”

“ Their speed and dexterity is simply marvellous, and seeing one of these little wallabies running through the broken country, one might almost imagine it to be the shadow of a bird flying swiftly overhead. ”

“ Several animals, in fact a whole colony, dig their burrows quite close together, and all the different channels communicate with each other, so that each animal does not have a separate dwelling. The burrows have not, like those of the fox or the badger, the opening constantly turned down the slope of the hill, but run in all directions. The animals do not seem to find it more difficult to throw the débris up than down the decline of the hill. ”

“ At night the animal roams about searching for food, which chiefly consists of the fruits of the Corkscrew Palm, Pandanus odoratissimus. Its movements are sudden and jerky, and the animal is a fast and clever runner, as well as a splendid climber. ”

“ Being strongly pursued by the aborigines and easily caught, this species is not numerous in any portion of Arnhem Land. It is nearly everywhere to be found, but the traveller may search the moonlit woods night after night without seeing a single animal, and in no locality do its numbers in any way approach those of the southern colonised parts of the continent. The brown variety was only found in the jungle around the river Daly, and all the specimens shot or captured in the open Eucalyptus forest were of the common bluish grey colour. ”

“ They are clever climbers; their run is a kind of quick trot, or perhaps, more correctly, a very fast crawling; and although in the daytime they seem sluggish animals, one is surprised at the wonderful agility which they exhibit at night, or when in danger of life.
The breeding takes place all the year round, and the young remains in the pouch of the mother until it acquires the thick fur characteristic of the adult animal. ”

“ Digging for their food, which chiefly consists of a small ground-nut called by the natives "nalgoa," they pursue the same course as mentioned in their burrowing, never paying any regard to whether they are digging up or down hill. Not only do the individuals in a colony inhabit the communicating burrows in common, but even between different colonies intermigration takes place—in fact, all the animals within a fairly large area seem to form one large family, the members of which are very independent of each other. ”

“ The fact is that these rats are living in burrows deeply dug in the sandy ground, the earth being thrown out of the mouth of such retreats and spread outside in great heaps. However, they do not content themselves with this. Every night they continue burrowing, and the ground is perforated in all directions. In Arnhem Land I have travelled through square miles of country where the ground was literally undermined by these rodents to such an extent that the hoofs of my horses at nearly every step would break through and sink deep down in the burrows. ”

“ During the long dry season the aborigine is not a very dangerous enemy to the "Jalva," but when the rains set in, and, especially in a heavy wet season, perfectly soak the ground, the burrows collapse. The boggy condition of the earth does not admit of any new digging, and the unfortunate animals are compelled to seek a very unsafe shelter in the grass. Flushed from its place of hiding, and being a poor runner, the "Jalva" is easily overtaken by the native and his dogs, large numbers being often killed in a short time. ”

“ One young is born at a time, and the breeding goes on continuously all the year round.
Macropus robustus. Male, "Tjikurr"; female, "Tjugeri."
The large black "Wallaroo" of South-eastern Australia was observed only in the sandstone ranges of the central table-land in Arnhem Land. In the wild and broken cliffs or precipices surrounding the large gullies where the South Alligator river flows, and a white man has seldom before wandered, a scanty tribe of the Robust Kangaroo was struggling for life against the steady onslaught of the aboriginal hunter of these lonely mountain valleys. ”

“ All through the night the animals are feeding; even the early morning and forenoon are very often devoted to the same occupation, and only through the hottest part of the day they rest in the camp, to which they constantly return. With such precision do the Kangaroos—and especially the solitary ones—return to their usual camps, that the aboriginal hunter by this circumstance is greatly aided in killing them. ”

“ In the afternoon, or towards sundown, they commence feeding on the green shoots or roots of various grasses, and sometimes at considerable intervals they will make for water. For how long a period they can dispense with water I do not know, but this species, like so many Australian mammals, seems in a considerable degree to be independent of it. In places where water is abundant they do not seem to drink every day, and sometimes one will meet the "Red Wallaroo" in places where water could only be procured by travelling long distances. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I am led to believe this because the Dingo type is always dominant, and because European dogs never would breed with wild Dingoes. They heartily detest them, may with advantage be employed in their chase, and only by force of circumstances breed with the half-tame individuals in the camps of the aborigines. In the north and north-west, European dogs had been in the country ten and thirty years respectively, and yet in the bush not a single specimen of Dingo was observed or shot which did not have all the specific characters of the species. ”

“ In order that the soil, even in its pristine condition, shall retain its power of nourishing vegetable life, a constant turning and renewal is necessary. Subsoil must in one way or another be conveyed to the surface, and replace that which has become deficient in nourishing qualities. It is a well-known fact that the termites to a great extent accomplish this work in tropical regions, and in Arnhem Land numerous ant-hills, sometimes of an enormous size, may be everywhere observed ”

“ As regards the breeding of this species, a fact of considerable interest was noticed. In the pouch of the female (which, by the way, has the opening turned towards the anus) as a rule three young are found in the earliest stage of development after birth. When the half-grown post-foetal stage is reached only two remain; and when development is nearly completed, and the young animal almost fit to leave the pouch, only one is left. ”