36 KATFBAL HISTOET SKETCHES. 



joeys could run, and to leave off just before the pairing 

 season ; and in the old world this would be the proper 

 arrangement. But here the autumn, instead of the 

 spring, is the breeding season, and the winter the only 

 time when any profit is attached to the chase of the 

 kangaroo. The regular shooter will of course give them 

 a rest after October ; for he has then the small game to 

 occupy him. The carcasses are worth nothing for the 

 market in the hot weather, and one winter's skin is 

 better than two summer ones. 



Although, during the two seasons that I was kan- 

 garooing, we spared neither age nor sex, but killed them 

 at all times, I should have felt far better pleased, and 

 shot with much more satisfaction, if I could have known 

 that I was killing my game at fair and proper seasons. 

 At present, the kangaroos appear to be regarded as 

 nuisances in the bush, and every means are used to 

 exterminate the race : they are snared, shot, and run 

 down with hounds, just for the sake of killing them, and 

 the carcasses left to rot in the forest. This does, indeed, 

 seem a shameful waste of one of the bounties of nature. 

 We scarcely ever now see a kangaroo within thirty 

 miles of Melbourne, and they will soon become scarce 

 even in the wilder country. I am hardly competent 

 to judge how much damage they do to the grass in 

 the wild districts. Of course, among cultivation, they 

 must be far worse than the hare or rabbit at home, and 

 no one can blame the farmer for trying all he can to get 

 rid of them ; but in the large plains and forests, where 



