MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA 191 



is about twenty-five inches, and the tail measures about sixteen 

 inches. 



The Pademelon is hunted wherever it is found chiefly on account 

 of its delicate flesh, which is grateful to the palate of many persons. 

 It seems a pity that such a charming little animal should be so 

 much persecuted. But Man has no thought for the creatures under 

 his dominion when they have the misfortune to be in his way or to 

 possess flesh, fur or feather which he desires for his own use. And 

 so the Pademelon will continue to be hunted until its kind is 

 exterminated. 



It is called a pest, inasmuch as it frequents the crops in cultivated 

 districts, and is alleged to do much damage. 



The writer has met with this species both in New South Wales 

 and in Queensland. It is weird at night in the tropical north to 

 hear the Pademelon thumping through the scrub. In the sugar- 

 cane fields it is fond of spending moonlit evenings ; you can hear 

 it crashing through the thick-clustering stalks, whose sap is so 

 sweet. The tropical scrubs which the Pademelon frequents are a 

 veritable fairyland to the nature lover. It is here that the botanist 

 can study that fierce struggle for existence which Darwin and 

 Wallace and other great naturalists observed, and which helped to 

 guide them to the golden keys which unlock dark portals guarding 

 the secrets of Nature. In the "big scrub" the vegetation is 

 luxuriant; plants great and small struggle fiercely for the light 

 which means life. Giant fig-trees with far-spreading aerial roots 

 tower above the graceful palms ; the myriad trunks of all the forest 

 trees are draped with green creepers, and linked together by weirdly 

 twisted stems of the "Lawyer vine"; orchids with quaint and 

 beautiful blooms cling to the branches. Does the little Pademelon 

 take heed of all this wondrous beauty ? 



DAMA WALLABY.— The Dama Wallaby is a near ally of the 

 Pademelon, but is distinguishable from it by the rufous fore-limbs 

 and the different conformation of the upper incisor teeth. Its form 

 is, like that of nearly all the Wallabies, very graceful. The fur is 

 of a grey colour above, excepting on the shoulders, where it is 

 rufous, and greyish-white on the under-parts of the body. The 

 length of full-grown specimens from the tip of the nose to the root 

 of the tail is from twenty-four inches to twenty-eight inches, 

 according to locality; length of tail seventeen inches. The Dama 

 Wallaby is confined to Western Australia and some islands lying 



