THE KANGAROO. ly 



that it seems as if they could never be shot out ; although, 

 of course, as the country becomes more peopled, their 

 numbers must decrease. During the two seasons I shot 

 here, I am certain considerably more than 2,000 kangaroos 

 were killed by our party and another within a very limited 

 distance, and we were camped on the very edge of the 

 good ground nearest to Melbourne. I fancy the great 

 breeding-grounds lie back in the wild undisturbed forests 

 and plains between this and the Heads, and perhaps 

 they draw down, in a kind of migration, into the more 

 open country. I know no kangaroo-ground at all on the 

 other side of Melbourne within the same distance. The 

 country there is principally plains, with little or no 

 timber. A few small flocks are met with under the 

 Dandenong ranges, and there is a good kangaroo-ground 

 up by the Tarra; but, according to all accounts, no 

 country near Melbourne is equal to the Western-port 

 district for kangaroo. 



There are several methods of killing the kangaroo. 

 Coursing them with kangaroo-hounds ; snaring them ; 

 stalking them in the timber with rifles; and our old 

 method, which is by far the best of any, planting three 

 or four shooters in a line through the forest, and sending 

 a man on horseback with dogs round the kangaroos, to 

 drive them up to the guns. 



Coursing them with good hounds, in an open country, 



on horseback, is fair work and good sport for men who 



have not to get their living by the chase. It is, in fact, 



the aristocratic mode of kangarooing. The breed of 



c 2 



