THE KANGUROO. 



themselves deep enough to find security before 

 their pursuers come up. Their burrows, in some 

 places, are so thick as to be dangerous to travel- 

 lers, the horses perpetually falling in them. It 

 is a provident little animal, and lays up for the 

 winter. It cuts grass in heaps of a foot square, 

 which, when dried, it carries into its burrow, 

 therewith to serve it for food, and to keep its 

 young warm during the rigours of the winter. 



[THE KANGUROO. 



THE Kanguroo w r as first discovered in the year 

 1770, by the late Sir Joseph Banks, during one 

 of the voyages of our celebrated navigator Cup- 

 tarn Cook. Although it has been classed with 

 the Jerboa, on account of its hind-legs being so 

 much longer than the fore, and also of its mov- 

 ing in the same bounding manner, it is now con- 

 sidered as more nearly allied to the opossum, in 

 having a pouch for the security of its young. 



This animal is about the size of a sheep ; it 

 has a small head, neck, and shoulders ; the body 

 increasing in thickness to the rump. The head is 

 oblong, tapering from the eyes to the nose ; the 

 end of the nose naked and black ; the upper lip di- 

 vided ; the nostrils are wide and open ; the lower 

 jaw is shorter than the upper ; the mouth small ; 

 the eyes are large ; the ears erect. There are 

 no canine teeth, but six broad cutting teeth in 

 the upper jaw, two long lanceolated teeth in the 



