350 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



P h,t, ty D. Ll SlUlf] 



PARRY'S WALLABY 



In attitude of liitcning 



it was discharged, to rush about 

 in an aimless manner, and, as 

 frequently happens, in the im- 

 mediate direction of the hidden 

 sportsman. In the good old times 

 it is recorded that an experienced 

 hand might kill as many as 

 seventy or eighty kangaroos in 

 a day by this stalking method. 

 The marsupials are at the present 

 date, however, so severely deci- 

 mated that even in the most 

 favourable settled districts a bag 

 of from twelve to twenty head 

 must be regarded as exceptional. 

 Stalking the kangaroo on foot 

 without the horse's aid is more 

 strongly recommended to those 

 to whom an occasional shot is 

 considered sufficiently remunera- 

 tive. Taking full advantage of 

 intervening bushes and other 

 indigenous cover, an approach to 



within a hundred yards or so of the quarry may be usually accomplished, though not quite so 



easily, perhaps, as might be at first anticipated. It is the habit of the kangaroo to sit up 



waist-high in the midst of the sun-bleached grass, which corresponds so closely in colour 



with its own hide that unless the animal is silhouetted against the sky-line it readily escapes 



detection. 



The conditions under which the kangaroo is obtained for the main purpose of supplying 



the human commissariat is perhaps most aptly illustrated in connection with its chase as 



prosecuted by the Australian 



aborigines. In Tasmania 



and the Southern Australian 



States the primeval man is 



either extinct or more rare 



than the kangaroo. In the 



extreme north and far north- 



west, however, he still poses 



as " the lord of creation," 



and conducts his hunting 



expeditions on a lordly scale. 



The food-supply of the 



Australian native is essenti- 



ally precarious. Long inter- 



vals of " short commons " 



are interspersed with brief 



periods of over-abundance, 



in which he indulges his 



appetite to its fullest bent. 



A kangaroo drive on native 



lines represents to the PARRY'S WALLABY 



Australian mind one of these Characteristic feedin K attitude 



ph, t, D. L, s,u,f\ 



