182 



BRANCH VERTEBEATA. 



FIG. 311. 



common variety is about the size of a cat, with a pointed 

 head ; large, naked ears ; sharp teeth ; rough tongue ; 

 long, prehensile tail ; and curved claws.* It is mostly 



nocturnal and arboreal, and both 

 herbivorous and carnivorous. 



The Kangaroos are noted for 

 their small fore and large hind 

 limbs. The latter with the power- 

 ful tail form a tripod to sustain 

 the animal when sitting ; but 

 when feeding, it goes upon all 

 fours. The young often protrude 

 their heads from the abdominal 

 pouch and crop the herbage at 

 the same time with the mother. 

 When alarmed, the Kangaroo 

 bounds off twenty feet at a leap.f 

 Its eyes are large and have a 

 peculiar gazelle-like expression, in strange contrast to 

 that of its glistening white teeth. The different species 

 vary in height from that of a rabbit to that of a man ; 

 the Macropus being the largest. Australia and the ad- 

 jacent islands are the home of the Kangaroo. 



* Hunting the animal is a favorite sport in some of the Southern States. In 

 the bright moonlight evenings of the autumn, parties go out for this purpose 

 with dogs. The Opossum hides in the thick branches of a tree ; but, when shaken 

 down, rolls into a ball and feigns itself dead ; after a few moments it slowly opens 

 one eye, then the other, and if unhindered sneaks away. The young weigh only 

 about four grains when put in the pouch by the lips of the mother, and are blind 

 and deaf. Within a week their tails become prehensile enough to twine around 

 one another's bodies. In five weeks they are able to crawl out and are sometimes 

 found on the back of the mother, with their tails grasping hers, which, in turn, 

 may be twisted about a branch. 



t It is eagerly hunted for its flesh and skin. Though an exceedingly timid 

 animal, dying often in captivity of sheer fright, yet, when brought to bay by 

 the hounds, it seizes them with its fore limbs and endeavors either to drown 

 them, in the water, or to lay them open with its hind claw, 



Mac' ro pus ma'jor. 

 Kangaroo. ( &.) 



