318 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Fh,H <> JVi &• Sin] [Netting Hill 



GAIMARD'S RAT-KANGAROO 



A species named after the French naturalist, Gaimard 



lection for the newly planted or 

 more fully matured potato crops. 



The most abnormal group of 

 the Kangaroo Family is undoubtedly 

 that of the TREE-KANGAROOS, for- 

 merly supposed to have been limited 

 in its distribution to the island 

 of New Guinea, but which has 

 within recent years been found to 

 be represented by one or more 

 species in Northern Queensland. 

 At the Melbourne Zoo they have 

 been found, except in the coldest 

 weather, to thrive well in the open 

 a moderate-sized tree, with a small 

 fenced-in enclosure around it, being 

 admirably suited to their require- 

 ments, at the same time providing 

 a most instructive exhibition of their 

 peculiar forms and idiosyncrasies. 



Seen at its best, however, the tree-kangaroo, or " boongarry," as it is known amongst the 



Queensland natives, is a most clumsy, melancholy-looking beast, which has apparently found 



itself " up a tree," not as the outcome of its personal predilections, but owing to the force 



majeure of untoward pressure in the form either of relentlessly persecuting enemies or the 



failure of its normal terrestrial commissariat. Compared with the graceful and superlatively 



agile tree-frequenting phalangers, between whom and the ordinary kangaroos it has been 



sometimes, but erroneously, regarded as representing a connecting-link, the boongarry 



presents a most ungainly contrast. Its climbing powers are of the slowest and most 



awkward description, the whole of its energies being concentrated on its endeavour to 



preserve its balance and to retain a tight hold upon the r , 



branches of the trees it frequents, and to which it clings 



with such tenacity with its long sharp claws that it can 



with difficulty be detached. In its wild state, moreover, 



these claws can be very effectively used as weapons of 



defence; and hence the natives, with whom the animal 



is highly esteemed as an article of food, arc careful to 



give it its quietus with their clubs or waddies before 



venturing to handle it. The tree-kangaroos inhabit the 



densest parts of the forests or " scrubs " of New Guinea 



and tropical Queensland, and appear to confine their 



movements chiefly to the trees of moderate size, or the 



lower branches only of the taller ones. 



The species which constitutes the most natural known 



connecting-link between the typical Kangaroos and the 



family of the Phalangers, next described, is the Five- i ( )] 1 1 



RAT-KANGAROO, or POTOROO. As its name implies, it 



is a small creature of rat-like aspect and dimensions, and 



possesses, like a rat, a long, cylindrical, naked, scaly tail. 

 It is the structure of the feet, however, that constitutes the 



important distinction. In place of the four toes only to the 



hind limbs it possesses the full complement of five, and the 



first toe, moreover, is set farther back, and is opposable 



for grasping purposes. This animal is from Queensland. 



Phm h «'. Savtlit-Kent, F.7..S. 



RAT-KANGAROO FROM NEW 

 SOUTH WALES 



One of the small jerboa-like species 



