350 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Pha, ky D. Ll Sou./] 



[AMhurni 



PARRY'S WALLABY 



In attitude of listening 



it was discharged, to rush about 

 in an aimless manner, and, as 

 frequently happens, in the im- 

 mediate direction of the hidden 

 sportsman. In the good old times 

 it is recorded that an experienced 

 hand might kill as many as 

 seventy or eighty kangaroos in 

 a day by this stalking method. 

 The marsupials are at the present 

 date, however, so severely deci- 

 mated that even in the most 

 favourable settled districts a bag 

 of from twelve to twenty head 

 must be regarded as exceptional. 

 Stalking the kangaroo on foot 

 without the horse's aid is more 

 strongly recommended to those 

 to whom an occasional shot is 

 considered sufficiently remunera- 

 tive. Taking full advantage of 

 intervening bushes and other 

 indigenous cover, an approach to 



within a hundred yards or so of the quarry may be usually accomplished, though not quite so 

 easily, perhaps, as might be at first anticipated. It is the habit of the kangaroo to sit up 

 waist-high in the midst of the sun-bleached grass, which corresponds so closely in colour 

 with its own hide that unless the animal is silhouetted against the sky-line it readily escapes 

 detection. 



The conditions under which the kangaroo is obtained for the main purpose of supplying 

 the human commissariat is perhaps most aptly illustrated in connection with its chase as 

 prosecuted by the Australian 

 aborigines. In Tasmania 

 and the Southern Australian 

 States the primeval man is 

 either extinct or more rare 

 than the kangaroo. In the 

 extreme north and far north- 

 west, however, he still poses 

 as " the lord of creation," 

 and conducts his hunting 

 expeditions on a lordly scale. 

 The food-supply of the 

 Australian native is essenti- 

 ally precarious. Long inter- 

 vals of " short commons " 

 are interspersed with brief 

 periods of over-abundance, 

 in which he indulges his 

 appetite to its fullest bent. 



fhu, t } O. L, S, u ,f] 



PARRY'S WALLABY 



Characteristic feeding attitude 



A kangaroo drive on native 

 lines represents to the 

 Australian mind one of these 



