GREAT KANGUROO. 509 



most picturesque of quadrupeds. The head bears 

 some resemblance to that, of a deer, and the visage 

 is mild and placid : the ears are moderately large, 

 of a slightly sharpened form, and upright : the eyes 

 large, and the mouth rather small : the neck thin 

 and finely proportioned : the fore legs extremely 

 short, with the feet divided into five toes, each 

 furnished with a sharp and somewhat crooked 

 claw. From the breast downwards the body gra- 

 dually enlarges, and again decreases a little to- 

 wards the tail : the thighs and hind legs are ex- 

 tremely stout and long; and the feet are so con- 

 structed as to appear, at first sight, to consist of 

 but three toes, of which the middle is by far the 

 largest, and is furnished with a claw of great 

 size and strength: the exterior toe is also fur- 

 nished with a very strong claw, but far smaller 

 than that of the middle one ; and the interior con- 

 sists of two small toes united under a common 

 skin, with their respective claws placed so close to 

 each other as to appear like a split or double 

 claw: the whole appearance of the foot bears a 

 distant resemblance to that of a bird. The Kan- 

 guroo rests on the whole length of the foot, which 

 is callous, blackish, and granulated beneath. The 

 colour of the animal is an elegant pale brown, 

 lighter or more inclining to whiteness on the ab- 

 domen : the ventral pouch, or receptacle for the 

 young, is situated in the same manner as in the 

 Opossums, and is extremely large and deep. 



The dimensions of a full-grown Kanguroo are 

 given as follows, in Governor Phillip's voyage 



