of Lord North’s Island. 213 
in any of the smaller islands, even when those are in the vicinity 
of large ones which abound in that animal; and this, and other 
animals of the same tribe, though numerous in the larger islands 
to the westward, gradually disappear as we proceed eastward. 
Among the peculiarities which have been thought worthy of 
distinct notice in the products of Australia, in particular, the 
greatest is the total absence of large quadrupeds, and the scarcity 
of the smaller; the latter of which, too, are so remarkable in their 
structure as to appear almost anomalous. Australia has been 
termed the land of contrarieties, as if Nature, in creating the forms 
intended for this region, had departed altogether from those rules 
to which she had otherwise so universally adhered. The particu- 
lar form, for instance, which, in other parts of the world, she has 
given to the smallest race of quadrupeds, — the rats and dormice, — 
she here bestows upon the kangaroo, the largest animal throughout 
the whole of Australia.* Two thirds of the Australian quadrupeds 
are provided with the marsupial pouch, forming a natural nest in 
the soft folds of their own skin for the protection of their young, 
like the opossum of America; and they make their way with more 
rapidity, by springing or vaulting through the air, than by walking 
on the ground. 
The ornithology of this region is distinguished by the vast pro- 
portion of suctorial birds, or such as derive their principal support 
from sucking the nectar of flowers. This peculiar organization, 
which, in Africa, India, and America is restricted to the smallest 
birds in creation, is here developed very generally, and given to 
species as large as the thrushes, and seems to be possessed by 
a great number of the parrots. The conchology comprehends many 
of the most beautiful and rare shells known to our cabinets. 
* Swainson, on the Geography of Animals, in the Cabinet Cyclopedia, 
No. 66, p. 115. 
39 
