HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE-G OSSIP. 



sudden spring, so powerful is their contractile force. 

 The foot, which in the adult animals of the larger 

 kinds is from twelve to eighteen inches in length, 

 is tipped with a formidable claw three or four inches 

 long ; the other toes are rudimentary — one small 

 nail on the outside of the foot, and two, still less, 

 and joined together, opposite to it on the inner 

 side, alone representing them. The forelegs, or 

 arms as they are sometimes called, are short ; 

 and the paws, which are comparatively large and 

 broad, are armed with five strong claws. The head 

 is not unlike that of the fallow-deer, and the 

 countenance is usually 

 mild and placid, but 

 seldom exactly alike, 

 in point of expression, 

 in any two individuals ; 

 some of the old males 

 have prominent Roman 

 noses, like a Merino 

 ram. 



The carcass of the 

 kangaroo, like that of 

 the European hare, 

 rarely, if ever, contains 

 any fat ; and much 

 diversity of opinion 

 prevails as to the nu- 

 tritive quality of the 

 flesh, of which dogs are 

 never very fond, al- 

 though they feed 

 greedily on opossum, 

 which looks drier, but 

 is certainly not quite 

 so tough. 



The aborigines, how- 

 ever, used formerly to 

 prize kangaroo flesh as 

 the richest dainty their 

 country afforded, and 

 celebrated the slaughter 

 of an "old man" by 

 a grand " corroboree," 

 or war-dance, much in 

 the same way that the 

 Hottentots do the slay- 

 ing of a lion, or the negroes of Central Africa the 

 destruction of an elephant or gorilla — for, harm- 

 less though it be when uninterfered with, the kan- 

 garoo is the largest animal at present inhabiting 

 Australia, and will sometimes fight fiercely enough 

 when brought to bay, standing with its back against 

 a tree, and tearing the incautious aggressor with 

 the powerful claws of its hind feet, or hugging 

 him to death, bear-fashion, with its small, but 

 muscular fore-paws ; occasionally, too, when hard- 

 pressed, the kangaroo makes for a water-hole, and 

 standing in it up to its neck, often succeeds in 



Fig. 3. — Skeleton of Great Kangaroo. 



drowning its adversary— so that " blackie," not with- 

 out some reason, looked upon its capture as a feat 

 of importance, and worthy of commemoration by 

 dance and song. 



For a long time considerable uncertainty existed as 

 as to the mode of reproduction peculiar to these 

 animals, and even now the doubts upon this point 

 are far from being cleared up ; although the numerous 

 experiments made at the Zoological Gardens, both 

 in London and Sydney, ought to have settled the 

 question long ago. The young kangaroos are not 

 born at any particular season of the year, so that one 



dam may be seen with 

 the bare rudiments of 

 a young one in her 

 pouch ; whilst another, 

 in the same "mob " or 

 herd, has a full-grown 

 "joey " hopping by her 

 side. 



The o 1 d doe-kan- 

 garoos have a habit, 

 when closely pressed 

 by their enemies, of 

 pulling their young ones 

 from their hiding- 

 place in the maternal 

 pouch and throwing 

 them away ; and have, 

 accordingly, by some 

 authors been placed at 

 the bottom of the scale 

 of animal life, as de- 

 ficient in natural affec- 

 tion ; but this want of 

 maternal instinct is 

 more apparent than 

 real, for the poor 

 mother invariably, if 

 she escapes with her 

 life, returns to pick up 

 her joey, as soon as 

 the coast is clear ; 

 having probably cast 

 it away for a time in 

 order to preserve both 

 their lives, knowing 

 that the pursuers would neglect its slender form in 

 their eager chase of herself, who, temporarily relieved 

 of her burden, could also more readily escape ; so 

 that, in reality, it is true affection, and not the want 

 of it, that prompts the old kangaroo to act in the 

 apparently unnatural manner peculiar to her race. 



The great red kangaroo [Macropns major, or 

 laniger) is the largest species of the Macropidae at 

 present known to exist, and is also the handsomest 

 of the Australian mammalia. Its general colour is 

 sandy-red, tinged with orange, which in the female, 

 and young of both sexes, is changed into a light 



