256 POUCHED MAMMALS OR MARSUPIALS. 



"The natives generally hunt the Kangaroo by forming a 

 circle around the herd and killing them with clubs. By the 

 colonists they are generally driven toward a particular spot 

 where the sportsmen have been stationed before hand after 

 the fashion of a bateau, but they are also stalked, and occa- 

 sionally hunted by dogs. In spite of their timidity Kan- 

 garoos are enemies not to be despised when brought to 

 bay, and a blow from the powerful tail or hind legs is 

 sufficient to cause serious injuries, and the dogs are often 

 torn open by the strong claws of the hind feet. " 



Mr. W. H. Blundell, in a letter to "Nature," a number 

 of years ago wrote : 



"The great plains and deserts over which these marsup- 

 ials wander in search of food afford an exceedingly precar- 

 ious supply of pasture, in consequence of drought and bush 

 fires, which not infrequently follow a super-abundance of 

 herbage. These animals by means of their procumbent teeth, 

 which they make use of as shears, are enabled to cut off 

 any green root or half buried remains spared by a scorching 

 sun, and obtain nourishment where any grass feeding pla- 

 cental animal would certainly starve. It is in consequence, 

 I believe, of the power which is by this means given these 

 animals, that in the great pastural districts in New South 

 Wales and Queensland, it has been found that they are far 

 more destructive of food than any stock that can be put upon 

 the land. And in places where Wallabys and Paddy Melons, 

 are exceedingly numerous, it is noticed that the native 

 grasses in the particular localities which they frequent be- 

 come completely destroyed, and that such places remain 

 entirely ungrassed until fresh seed is scattered over them 

 by the winds. 



Brehm in describing the locomotion of Kangeroos 

 says: "the fore limbs are tightly clasped against the 

 chest and the tail stretched backwards, while the powerful 

 thigh muscles are caused suddenly to straighten the 

 joints, by which action the body flies through the air in 

 a low curve. In ordinary locomotion the leaps are only 

 nine or ten feet, but when alarmed the animal doubles 

 or even trebles its exertion. The right foot seems to be 

 employed more than the left and is held a little in front 

 of it. With each leap the tail swings upward and down- 

 ward, but it is not employed in changing the course of 

 the animal, for this is always effected by two or three short 

 leaps. The fore limbs are never lowered in locomotion, and 

 in fact, only the toes of the hind limbs touch the ground. In 



