THE POUCH OF THE KANGAROO. 473 
Sometimes the Kangaroo comes to bay near water, and then takes a singular advantage 
of the situation. If any dog should be bold enough to come within reac +h, the Kangaroo 
picks up its foe in its fore-paw s, and leaping to anes water, holds the dog ander the surface 
until it is dead. On one occasion, a Boomer had come to bay in some ‘Shallow water, and 
was already engaged in drownitig a dog, when it was assailed by the remainder of the 
hounds, which had just arrived, Nothing daunted by their onset, the Kangaroo kept its 
dying foe under water by holding it down with one of its hind- feet, and held itself 
prepared to repeat the process upon the tiext dog that should attack. 
But the Kangaroo is wise enough to postpone an actual combat until it is absolutely 
forced to fight, and uses every stratagem in its endeavours to escape. When pressed 
very hardly ‘by. the hounds, the Boomer has often been known to make a sudden leap at 
right angles to its former course, and to make good its escape before the dogs could recover 
themselves. This mode of proceeding is, however, rather a dangerous one, as the animal 
has more than once broken one of its legs by the sudden strain that is thrown upon the 
_vight or left leg, as the case may be. 
When running, the creé iture has a curious habit of looking back every now and 
then, and has sometimes unconsciously committed suicide by leaping against one of the 
tree-stumps which are so plentifully found in the districts inhabited by the Kangaroo. 
The doe Kangaroo displays very little of these running or fighting capabilities, and has 
been known, when chased for a very short distance, 
to lie down and die of fear, Sometimes when pursued, 
it contrives to elude the dogs by rushing into some 
brushwood, and then making a very powerful leap to 
one side, so as to throw the dogs off the scent. She 
lies perfectly still as the dogs rush past her place of 
concealment, and when they have fairly passed her, 
she quietly makes good her escape in another direction. 
When young, and before she has borne young, the 
female Kangaroo affords good sport, and is called, 
from her extraordinary speed, the “ Flying Doe.” 
The extraordinary pouch in which the young of 
the Kangaroo and other marsupiated animals are 
nourished has already been casually mentioned, and 
as it is highly developed in the Kangaroo, it will be 
described in connexion with this animal. 
The young animal when first born is of extremely 
minute dimensions, hardly exceeding an inch in total 
length, soft, helpless, and semi-transparent as an earth- 
worm. After birth it is instantly conveyed into the 
pouch, and instinctively attaches itself to one of the 
nipples, which are very curiously formed, being re- 
tractile, like the finger of a glove when not in use, 
and capable of being drawn out to a considerable 
degree when they are needed by the young animal. 
In the accompanying engraving this structure is very 
well delineated. 
In this internal cradle the young Kangaroo passes 
the whole of its earlier stages of development, and 
when it has attained some little bodily powers occa- 
sionally loosens its hold, and pokes its head out of the 
pouch, as if to see how large the world really is. By 
degrees it gains sufficient “strength to crop the more delicate herbage, and, in course of 
time, it leaves the pouch altogether, and skips about the plains under the ever watchful 
protection of its mother. No sooner, however, is the little animal tired, or does the mother 
see cause of danger, than it scrambles back again into the pouch, and does not emerge 
until it is refreshed by repose, or until all danger has passed away. 
YOUNG KANGAROO IN ITS MOTHER’S POUCH, 
