436 POUCHED ANIMALS 



natives converted the skin into sacks in which to carry the 

 little impedimenta with which the benighted savage troubles 

 to load himself ; the bones served for rude needles, and the 

 tendons, especially of the tail, provided string or thread. 

 The great cutting nail of the hind foot made a very 

 serviceable spear tip. 



The flesh of all the herbivorous marsupials is uniformly 

 good for food. Of the larger Kangaroos, the forequarters 

 are usually the perquisite of the dogs that have run the 

 quarry down ; but from the hindquarters may be cut some 

 very fine steaks. Cooked in the same manner as venison 

 collops, they are little inferior to the flesh of the deer. But 

 the most highly prized part is the tail, which in the case 

 of a ' Boomer ' will weigh as much as twelve pounds. It 

 makes a soup that causes the best oxtail to take a very 

 decided second place. 



The Great Grey Kangaroo is a plain and forest dweller, 

 but other species are found even on the snowy summits 

 of the Australian mountains. The Woolly, or Red 

 Kangaroo (Macropus rufus), is slightly larger than the 

 Great Grey. It has a naked face, and inhabits rocky 

 districts, but in build and general habits it presents no 

 points worthy of separate notice, a remark which applies 

 equally to several other of the larger species. 



The Tree Kangaroos, found in New Guinea and Northern 

 Queensland, form a distinct and remarkable group (Plate 

 XLIII. Fig. i). In size they are only about one-third as 

 large as the foregoing ; there is no great difference in the 

 length of the fore and hind legs, and there is no markedly 

 prominent toe. Though it was long doubted, the fact is 

 established beyond all question that these animals climb 

 trees. It may be that they adopted an arboreal habit 

 in order to obtain better food than existed on the 

 surface of the ground, for they possess no special modi- 

 fication of limbs to enable them to climb trees other than 

 clumsily. 



Kangaroos are easily domesticated. They thrive well in 

 England, where the climate is more favourable than in 

 some of their native regions. At Tring Park, Lord 

 Rothschild's estate, troops of the graceful animals may 



