THE KANGAKOO EAT AND THE WOMBAT. 143 



The doe Kangaroo displays very little of these running or fighting 

 capabilities, and has been known, when chased for a very short dis- 

 tance, to lie down and die of fear. Sometimes, when pursued, she 

 contrives to elude the dogs by rushing into some brushwood, and then 

 making a very powerful leap to one side, so as to throw the dogs off the 

 scent. She lies perfectly still as the dogs rush past her place of con- 

 cealment, and when they have fairly passed her she quietly makes good 

 her escape in another direction. When young, and before she has 

 borne young, the female Kangaroo affords good sport, and is called, 

 from her extraordinary speed, the " Flying Doe." 



The Kangaroo is a very hardy animal and thrives well in England, 

 where it might probably be domesticated to a large extent if neces- 

 sary, and where it would enjoy a more genial climate than it finds 

 in many districts of its native land. One of the fiavored localities of 

 this species is the bleak, wet, and snow-capped summit of Mount Wel- 

 lington. 



The eye of the Kangaroo is very beautiful, large, round, and soft, and 

 gives to the animal a gentle, gazelle-like expression that compensates 

 for the savage aspect of the teeth, as they gleam whitely between the 

 cleft lips. 



The Kangaroo Rat, called by the natives the Potoroo, is a native 

 of New South Wales, where it is found in very great numbers. 



It is but a diminutive animal, the head and body being only fifteen 

 inches long, and the tail between ten and eleven inches. The color of 

 the fur is brownish black, pencilled along the back with a gray white. 

 The under parts of the body are white, and the fore-feet are brown. 

 The tail is equal to the body in length, and is covered with scales, 

 through the intervals of which sundry short, stiff, and black hairs 

 protrude. 



This little animal frequents the less open districts, and is very quick 

 and lively in its movements, whether it be indulging in its native game- 

 someness or engaged in the search for food. Roots of various kinds are 

 the favorite diet of the Kangaroo Rat, and in order to obtain these 

 dainties the animal scratches them from the ground with the powerful 

 claws of the fore-feet. 



It is not so exclusively nocturnal as many of the preceding animals, 

 and seems to be equally lively by day as by night. When the animal 

 is sitting upon its hinder portions, the tail receives part of the weight of 

 the body, but is not used in the same manner as the tail of the true 

 Kangaroos, which, when they are moving slowly and leisurely along, 

 are accustomed to support the body on the tail, and to swing the hinder 

 legs forward like a man swinging himself upon crutches. 



The Wombat — or Australian Badger, as it is popularly called by 

 the colonists — is so singularly unlike the preceding and succeeding an- 



