30 THE KANGAROO. 



tonishing manner, 'and over bushes seven or eight feet high 

 without apparent effort. 



The Kangaroo is generally of an ash color ; it feeds en- 

 tirely on vegetables, and its flesh is wholesome and pal- 

 atable food ; it is much esteemed, and is said to resemble 

 venison. It feeds in the same manner as the squirrel ; set- 

 ting upon its haunches, and holding its food in its fore paws. 

 There are two kinds, a larger and a smaller. Bigland 

 states that the largest which has been shot weighed 140 

 pounds, and measured in length, from the point of the nose 

 to the insertion of the tail, four feet ; and its tail two feet 

 one inch ; the length of the fore legs one foot, and that of 

 the hind legs two feet eight inches. The smaller kind sel- 

 dom weighs above 60 pounds. 



It is very harmless and timid, and flies from man and 

 rapacious animals. It is, like the opossum, furnished with 

 a pouch near the abdomen, in which its young are fostered, 

 and into which they hide in time of danger. Its astonish- 

 ing agility, under such seeming disadvantages, is the most 

 striking circumstance by which it is distinguished, and 

 which demonstrates, beyond cavil, that the Author of Na- 

 ture can communicate activity and vigor to any conforma- 

 tion of parts.' 



