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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



males, on soft ground, are easily taken. Many of these fine kangaroo- 

 dogs are kept at the stock-stations of the interior, for the sole purpose 

 of running the kangaroo and the emu, the latter being killed solely for 

 the supply of oil which it yields, and the former for mere sport or for 

 food for the dogs. Although I have killed the largest males with a 

 single dog, it is not generally advisable to attempt this, as they possess 

 great power, and frequently rip up the dogs, and sometimes even cut 



Fig. 4. Skeleton of the Kangaroo. a, Marsupial Bones. 



them to the heart with a single stroke of the hind-leg. Three or four 

 dogs are more generally laid on; one of superior fleetness to "pull" 

 the kangaroo, while the others rush in upon it and kill it. It some- 

 times adopts a singular mode of defending itself, by clasping its short, 

 powerful fore-limbs around its antagonist, then hopping away with it 

 to the nearest water-hole, and there keeping it beneath the water until 

 drowned. 



