THE KANGAROOS. 



207 



game of these regions, and although their 

 tlesh and skin are of. comparatively little value 

 they are nevertheless highly esteemed for the 

 want of anything better. 



The kangaroos graxe by day and sleep 

 by night the larger species in the bush and 

 in woods, the smaller ones in holes dug 

 by themselves, which 

 they line with grasses 

 and dry herbs. 

 Their food is essen- 

 tially vegetable. 

 They graze after the 

 manner of our cattle, 

 and a certain herb, 

 of which the kanga- 

 roos are particularly 

 fond, has received 

 from the settlers the 

 name of " kangaroo 

 grass." When they 

 have torn up the 

 grasses or leaves of 

 the herbs they sit 

 down on their tripod 

 to eat them, in doing 

 which they make use 

 of their fore- paws 

 as hands. 



The numerous 

 species have been 

 distributed among 

 several genera dis- 

 tinguished by differences in the dentition and 

 the relative length of the fore and hind legs. 



The least abnormal type is that of the 

 Tree-kangaroos (Dendrolagus) of New Guinea, 

 the commonest species of which, the Ursine 

 Tree-kangaroo {Dendrolagus itrsinus], is shown 

 in fig. 260. Although its legs and feet are 

 constructed on the general type of those of 

 the kangaroos, the disproportion between the 

 fore and hind legs is not so striking as in 



the genus Halmaturus, which closely resemble the true kangaroos, 

 but are distinguished by having a naked muzzle. The commonest 

 species, the black wallaby, is about 2% feet in length, exclusive of 

 the tail. TK. 



Fig. 260. The Ursine Ti 



other forms, the fore-legs being almost equal 

 in length to the hind ones. All the toes have 

 flattened somewhat curved cutting claws. 

 The upper incisors are almost equal in size, 

 the canines are very prominent, and the pre- 

 molar is of considerable length. The body 

 and the cylindrical tail are each about 2 feet 



long. The coat is 

 dark-brown on the 

 back, light-brown 

 underneath. The 

 members of this 

 genus have become 

 completely adapted 

 to a tree life. They 

 climb well and feed 

 on everything that 

 they can obtain on 

 their airy abodes. 



The Rat-kangaroos 

 or Potoroos (Hypsi- 

 prymnus) may attain, 

 as in the species 

 shown in fig. 261, 

 the Tufted-tailed 

 Rat-kangaroo (//. 

 penicillatus), the size 

 of a rabbit or a hare; 

 but usually, as the 

 name indicates, arc: 

 not so large. They 

 live on the arid hilly 

 savannahs, sleep by 



day in a warm well-lined hole, are social in 

 their habits, and burrow in the ground in 

 search of roots and tubers. They make use 

 of their long prehensile tail to carry herbs 

 to their nests. The fore-paws are shorter 

 than in the tree-kangaroos, and the dentition 

 also is considerably different. The middle 

 incisors are decidedly larger than the canines, 

 and are sharp and recurved. The surface 

 of the long premolar is notched with deep 

 folds running down from the crown, which is 

 compressed from side to side. The species 

 shown in the illustration is brownish-gray on 



