ORDER MARSUPIALIA: MARSUPIALS 103 



The fur is long and thick; general color above dull brown, more 

 rufous on rump; an indistinct black mark behind the shoulder suc- 

 ceeded by a pale gray one; chin and chest pale gray; belly brown, 

 tinged with yellow; anal region yellowish rufous; arms and legs 

 rufous brown, becoming black at extremities; tail more or less 

 bushy, basal part rufous, remainder black, tip sometimes yellow. 

 Head and body, 720 mm.; tail, 560 mm. (Thomas, 1888, p. 67.) 



The Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby once inhabited the ranges of 

 eastern Australia from southeastern Queensland to Victoria. 



In New South Wales, according to Gould (1842, text to pi. 23), 

 "the species abounds wherever the kind of country suitable to its 

 habits occurs. The specimens in my own collection were procured 

 on the Liverpool range, and on the rocky sides of the mountains 

 facing Yarrundi on the Dartbrook, a tributary of the Hunter. I also 

 ascertained that it is very abundant on Turi, and the other moun- 

 tains situated to the eastward of the Liverpool Plains, and it doubt- 

 less ranges over a much greater extent of country than we are yet 

 acquainted with. It is ... strictly gregarious, assembling in such 

 numbers as to form well-beaten paths along the sides of the moun- 

 tains they inhabit. Their agility in leaping from rock to rock . . . 

 tends greatly to their protection, as neither the wily aborigine, 

 nor their still greater enemy the Dingo, can follow them to their 

 retreats . . . . " 



Gould writes later (1863, vol. 2, pp. 46-47) : 



"Those portions of the mountain ranges stretching along the 

 eastern coast from Port Philip to Moreton Bay . . . are among the 

 localities in which it is found; hills of a lower elevation than those 

 of the great ranges, and the precipitous stony gullies between the 

 mountains and the sea, are also situations it inhabits. . . . 



"Of its flesh as an article of food I can speak most highly, having 

 frequently partaken of it in the bush and always found it excellent." 



Le Souef calls attention (1923, p. 110) to the special need of 

 protective measures, since this species is entirely confined to the 

 fox area of eastern Australia. He adds that in New South Wales "a 

 few are found round Jenolan Caves, and at the head of the Murray 

 River." He also writes (1924, p. 272) : "The Brush-tailed Rock 

 Wallaby has become very scarce within Reynard's range during the 

 past few years. Skins of this species used to come into the sale 

 rooms in bales, now it is rare to see one." 



Musgrave writes (1925, p. 210) of the species along the Nepean 

 River in New South Wales: "In former times the Brush-tailed Rock 

 Wallaby . . . occurred abundantly along the banks of the river, but 

 they have been so reduced in numbers by sportsmen that now they 

 are but rarely seen, and it is only a matter of time before the species 

 entirely disappears from the district." 



