pelled to fly several times round the tree, being threatened from
all points; and when he eventually hooks on, he has to go through a
series of combats, and be probably ejected two or three times, before
he makes good his tenure." This scene of selfish contention over, the
Fruit Bats pass some hours in profound sleep, during which they remain
suspended in rows along the branches, to which they cling by one foot
only, the other with all the lower surface of the body being
comfortably wrapped in the leathery mantle formed by the contracted
wings. In this condition, as Dr. Horsfield says of the Great Kalong,
"ranged in succession with the head downwards ... and often in close
contact, they have little resemblance to living beings, and by a
person not accustomed to their economy are easily mistaken for a part
of the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from its
branches." In this position the head is folded down upon the breast.
Dr. Bennett and Mr. Gould ascribed very similar habits to a large
Fruit Bat common in the northern parts of New South Wales and in
Queensland, which is said to be often exceedingly destructive to the
peach and other fruit crops of the settlers in those colonies.

The European Bats, and indeed all the Bats except these Flying Foxes
and their immediate allies, seek a different kind of shelter. Their
chief natural dormitories consist of hollow trees and the caves and
fissures of rocks, to which they often resort in great numbers; but in
populous countries they also find an abundance of convenient places of
retirement in and about buildings of various kinds. Roofs, especially
when covered with tiles, or otherwise provided with apertures through
which the space immediately under the roofing is easily accessible,
outbuildings of all kinds, church towers and other similar structures,
disused chimneys, the spaces behind weather-boards and shutters which
are not often moved, in fact any dark and sheltered places about our
buildings, are readily resorted to by many species, although some few
retain their taste for unadulterated nature so strongly that no
artificial harbor will serve their turn. Thus among the British
species the Great Bat or Noctule, a generally distributed though not
abundant species throughout the southern and middle counties of
England, seems generally to retreat for its diurnal sleep to the holes
or cavities in the trunks of trees, and only to visit buildings when
there is a sc