88 NATURAL HISTORY SKETCHES. 



wild dogs are cowardly by nature, but -when brought 

 to bay, they make a hard fight of it, and it will give 

 a good bush-dog all his work to do to kill one single- 

 handed : they snap like a wolf. When the distemper 

 raged so fearfully a few years ago among the domestic 

 dogs out here, it extended also to the wild dogs, and 

 scores were found dead in the bush. 



Although called the untamable dog of New South 

 "Wales, I have seen them to all appearance as tame as 

 the domestic dog, and I knew a shepherd who had one 

 which followed him about like a sheep-dog. But 

 they are never to be trusted, nor do I fancy that they 

 can ever be made of any use to man, either for guarding 

 or any other purpose. The only bark I ever heard one 

 utter, was a kind of "yap yap," after a long howl. 



The Koala or Native Bear of Australia is also a pouched 

 animal, and from its sluggish habits is sometimes called 

 the Australian sloth, about the size of a large poodle dog, 

 of a light gray colour, with white throat and rump, and 

 no tail ; and a very comical-looking fellow he is, with his 

 round bald face, small black eyes, and square fringed ears. 

 The skin is very thick, and tans to an excellent leather ; 

 the fur short and close. The legs are very powerful, and 

 the claws long and sharp. It is lazy and sluggish, but an 

 inoffensive animal, subsisting principally upon green 

 leaves, and is purely herbivorous. It lives in hollow trees, 

 and is not strictly nocturnal in its habits, for we often 

 killed them by day. I generally found them most com- 

 mon about the end of autumn, and used chiefly to see 



