23 NATURAL HISTOEY SKETCHES. 



have I got by seeing the old crows rise off a fresh-killed 

 carcass in the forest. In stalking kangaroo single-handed, 

 no doubt the man who can use a rifle well, and always 

 hit the kangaroo in the head or heart, will kill more than 

 with a smooth bore and shot ; but I am here alluding to 

 driving, where there is no fear but that the kangaroo 

 will come well within range. Nothing stops a kangaroo so 

 surely as a charge of No. 2 thrown well into the neck, at 

 about twenty yards ; and I certainly did like to see a 

 brace of kangaroo at full speed rolled over by a clean 

 double shot. I may mention, not with the slightest 

 desire of boasting, that no one on the kangaroo-ground 

 killed their shots cleaner or got more kangaroo in so few 

 shots as myself. My motive in adverting to the fact is 

 merely to prove that my theory of kangaroo-shooting is 

 correct. Let them come near enough, and aim well at 

 the neck. Moreover, the longer the distance the more 

 the shots spread ; and it is easy to guess which skin is of 

 the most value, one which the shots have entered in the 

 neck like a ball, or one spotted all over with shot-holes 

 like a colander. A kangaroo at full speed is by no 

 means an easy shot, especially to a " new chum :" their 

 peculiar jumping motion is very puzzling, and I always 

 fancied it like shooting at a man hopping by steam. 

 " Confound the looping beggars, I can't touch 'em at 

 all," once observed an old deer-stalker to me (who had 

 brought down many a red deer on his native hills), after 

 missing three fair double shots at kangaroo in suc- 

 cession. 



