AUSTRALIA I51 
anything that is out of the ordinary. One man maintained a num- 
ber of albino Bennett’s Wallabies in a semi-wild state on his farm 
and I was able to get a pair for London. I also got albinos of the 
Ring-tail and Brush-tail Opossums. 
Three Tasmanian Devils came into my hands, and these, like 
the thylacine, are confined to the island. Although only the size 
of a badger and related to the Dasyures or Native Cats, the Tas- 
manian Devil is a particularly ferocious carnivore with a large head 
and powerful jaws. Mine were fairly tame, being young, but could 
not be kept together. At feeding time their whole character 
changed and it was then that the appropriateness of their name 
became evident; any attempt to introduce food into their cages 
without undue care would probably have meant the loss of a hand, 
for the mere smell of meat when they were hungry produced an 
unbelievable ferocity in these creatures. 
When I left Hobart on the Mongolia, the fo’c’sle aft had been 
completely enclosed with canvas, converting it into a large mar- 
quee, and in this was housed my menagerie of devils, wallabies, 
opossums, echidnas, Fire-tailed Finches, honey-eaters, Spur-winged 
Plovers, Yellow-bellied Parrakeets, bee-eater, etc., and a platypus. 
At Melbourne considerable additions were made through the vari- 
ous contacts I had made on my way out. I was thus able to pick 
up more honey-eaters, Wonga-wonga Pigeons, Maned Geese, 
Australian Shelduck, Satin Bower-birds, Regent Bower-birds, cat- 
birds, Banksian Cockatoos, and some delightful little Short-headed 
Flying Phalangers, and Long-necked Terrapins. The Flying 
Phalangers have large eyes and sleep in holes in trees during the 
daytime; they are, in fact, much like galagos in habits and general 
form except that they have a broad membrane connecting the 
hand with the ankle for gliding. 
The bower-birds, to which the catbirds are related, extend 
throughout the Australasian region and New Guinea and are rep- 
resented by a number of species. They are the artists of the bird 
world, seeming to possess some esthetic sense in the building and 
maintaining of their remarkable bowers. These are built by the 
cocks and have nothing to do with nesting, though they may be 
the center for display activities. However, the bowers are appar- 
