Long-tailed bats were common throughout New Zealand in the 1800s and were recorded in colonies of “scores”, “hundreds”, and “thousands”. By 1900-1930 they were becoming scarce in many districts. Recent surveys indicate that South Island long-tailed bats are rarer than previously thought. They were once common in Dunedin, Invercargill and Christchurch, where they roosted under the wooden bridges across the Avon River until 1885.