K A N G U II O O. 



appearance ; and when one contrasts the anterior and 

 tiie posterior parts of the body, it seems singular that 

 they should belong to the same animal, the former 

 are so slight and slender as compared with the latter. 

 We have, no doubt, approaches to this in some other 

 animals, and it is worthy of remark that those ap- 

 proaches are found in the rodentia, such as the hare 

 and the jerboa ; and we have mentioned that the 

 rodentia are the least different from kanguroos of all 

 the common mammalia. When we have stated this, 

 however, our parallel is at an end, and we must con- 

 tent ourselves with noticing kanguroos as a separate 

 genus, which caiinot be explained, or the peculiarities 

 of its structure accounted for, upon any principle of 

 connexion. 



In brief, the generic characters may be stated as 

 follows : six incisive teeth in the upper jaw, and two 

 in the under; five cheek teeth in each side of both 

 jaws, but no canines in either. The head long and 

 slender ; the ears of large size and pointed ; and the 

 eyes also large. The fore legs very short, furnished 

 with h've toes on each, and armed with large claws. 

 The hind legs very long and strong, both in their 

 bones and their muscles ; the hind feet furnished with 

 four toes upon each ; but the two inner ones are very 

 small, and united together, so as to have the appear- 

 ance of only one ; the outer toe of moderate size ; 

 but the middle one very large, and armed with a clawj" 

 or, more strictly speaking, a hoof of great size, firm- 

 ness, and strength. The tail very strong, often very 

 long, and capable of much and rapid motion, but not 

 prehensile, though the animals can make use of it as 

 a sort of third foot in their progressive motions, and 

 especially when standing nearly upright. 



There is something very remarkable in the hind 

 foot of the kanguroo, as differing from that of every 

 other known species of animal, whether marsupial 

 or not. It no doubt preserves the general structure 

 of toes much developed and divided, and furnished 

 with pointed claws, which render the feet of most, if 

 not all, marsupial animals a very characteristic feature; 

 so that one who has been in the habit of paying even 

 a moderate degree of attention to the connexion be- 

 tween the developments of certain parts of animals 

 and their general physiology, would have no hesita- 

 tion in deciding whether an animal were or were not 

 marsupial by carefully inspecting its foot ; for there 

 is something slightly approaching to the foot of a 

 bird, in at least the greater part of them. The most 

 remarkable structural feature of the kanguroo's hind 

 foot is the peculiar way in which the toes are deve- 

 loped. The external toe is not very long, but it is 

 thick in proportion to its length ; and the claw, though 

 not very large, is firm and powerful. The two inter- 

 nal toes, which, as we have said, are united, form 

 together a sort of balance to this external one. The 

 middle one is, however, the most remarkable portion 

 of the foot ; for the bones of it extend beyond the 

 others in a manner unknown in any other animal ; 

 they are thick and strong in proportion to their great 

 length ; and they are terminated by perhaps the most 

 formidable claw, taken singly and without reference 

 to the other parts, which is to be met with among the 

 whole of the mammalia. This claw is not a nail, 

 placed on the upper end of the member, for the mere 

 purpose of strengthening that as a grasping instru- 

 ment ; it is not crooked, like the clutching claws of 

 those carnivorous animals which use the feet in seizing 

 their prey ; it is not in any way adapted for climbing, 



or for burrowing in the ground ; neither is it brought 

 habitually into action in the locomotion of the animal. 

 Still it is one of the most powerful appendages to an 

 animal which we meet with, and therefore analogy 

 leads us to conclude that it has a function to perform 

 as important as itself is powerful. 



From its combining the properties of a claw and 

 a hoof, we may suppose that this armature of the 

 middle toe of the kanguroo performs in part the 

 functions of both that is, it is both an instrument of 

 walking, and one of hostile operations ; but in the 

 latter respect it is a defensive weapon rather than an 

 offensive one. Still, however, as it is a general habit 

 with very many of the grazing animals to make what 

 may be called an active defence that is, to anticipate 

 the attack of a supposed enemy by making a counter 

 attack the kanguroo is sometimes apt to use this 

 powerful weapon in cases where no injury is done to 

 it, or even intended. The protecting instincts of 

 these animals, which feed exclusively upon vegetable 

 matter, are often very singular and apparently inex- 

 plicable ; 2nd when an enemy appears, they very 

 frequently attack that enemy, though it has shown 

 no disposition to attack them. This is an instinct, 

 too, which, in a very remarkable manner, improves 

 by being exercised, or perhaps we may say culti- 

 vated ; for nothing is more common than to find an 

 animal belonging to a species naturally mild and 

 even timid, becoming bold in it? attack both upon 

 other animals and upon human beings, in proportion 

 as these attacks are more frequently and more suc- 

 cessfully repeated. This, of which the natural course 

 is very easily seen, is what we are accustomed to 

 call a vicious disposition in an animal. There is, 

 however, no vice in a moral point of view in this, any 

 more than there is moral virtue in its opposite ; for 

 it is merely the instinct of the animal excited and 

 kept alive by exercise ; and it does not differ in prin- 

 ciple from the analogous instinct by which all animals 

 find their proper pasture and their proper food, or 

 by which wild ones return to their lairs or forms, 

 or tame ones to their stalls and other habitations. 



The usual mode of using the claw as a weapon, is 

 striking out with the foot, in the same manner as 

 other kicking animals use their hoofs ; and from the 

 great length of the leg, and the powerful muscles of 

 the hinder part of the animal, the blow which it gives 

 is rapid and very powerful ; so that when the Aus- 

 tralians course kanguroos with dogs, they require to 

 train those dogs in the same manner as they are 

 trained for coursing the emu, which also strikes out 

 against its pursuer with great force and effect. The 

 dog is trained to run, not on the direct line of the 

 game, but a little to one side ; and he continues until 

 he can go in upon the fore part of the animal, in 

 which part it is comparatively weak and defenceless. 

 If, however, the enemy, or that which the instinct 

 points out as being an enemy, appear suddenly in 

 front, or in a situation where there is no means of 

 escape by flight, the kanguroo does not tamely 

 abandon itself to its fate. It adopts a new system of 

 tactics, and this system is even more dangerous than 

 the other, uidess against an animal of considerable 

 strength and weight The kanguroo stands some- 

 thing like a tripod, upon the entire length of the 

 very long soles of the hind feet and the point of the 

 tail ; which latter organ, from its stiffness and power 

 of muscles, is scarcely less efficient than the other 

 two. Thus posted on its tripod, and having some- 



