210 



MACROPID.E. MAMMALIA. M.vcRorm.*:. 



the others, the outer pair being at the same time com- 

 paratively broad. In the Potoroos the middle incisors 

 are of considerable length. In all the members of this 

 family the head is rather small, and the upper lip is 

 cleft. These animals possess complicated stomachs, 

 and they display great powers of leaping ; only using 

 their anterior limbs when feeding. They are found 

 almost exclusively in Austrah'a, some few occurring 

 in New Guinea and Van Diemen's Land. 



THE GREAT KANGAEOO (Macropus giganteus) 

 Plate 29, fig. 92 is an animal of very considerable 

 interest, not only on account of its amazing powers of 

 leaping and marsupial peculiarities, but on account of 

 the circumstance of its being the largest living and 

 indigenous quadruped inhabiting the great Australian 

 continent. An adult specimen measures upwards of 

 four feet in length, not including the tail, which would 

 give us an additional three feet ; its weight occasion- 

 ally exceeding one hundred and forty pounds. The 

 capture of the Great Kangaroo in its native haunts is 

 attended with great and varied excitement ; and when 

 it was discovered by the sailors under Captain Cook, 

 during one of his ever-memorable voyages, they were 

 not slow to extol and exaggerate its leaping propen- 

 sities. It is now very commonly hunted with dogs ; 

 but the natives have a peculiar method of their 

 own. According to Captain Grey, as quoted by Mr. 

 Dallas in his excellent little manual entitled " A 

 Natural History of the Animal Kingdom," "the 

 native advances quietly in the direction where he 

 expects to find his game, with every sense on the alert 

 to give him notice of its approach. When the animal 

 is near him he is seen to assume an attitude of intense 

 attention, and, at a given signal, his wives and chil- 

 dren, who accompany him, drop immediately upon the 

 ground. When the savage is thus occupied, you will 

 see at about a hundred yards from him, a kangaroo 

 erect upon its hind legs, and supported by its tail. It 

 is reared to its utmost height, so that its head is 

 between five and six feet above the ground, its short 

 paws hang by its side, its ears are pointed it is listen- 

 ing as carefully as the native, and you see a little head 

 peering out from its pouch to inquire what has alarmed 

 its mother. But the native moves not: you cannot 

 tell whether it is a human being or the charred trunk 

 of a burned tree which is before you, and for several 

 minutes the whole group preserve their relative posi- 

 tion. At length the kangaroo becomes reassured, 

 drops upon its fore paws, gives an awkward leap or 

 two, and goes on feeding ; the little inhabitant of its 

 pouch stretching its head further out, testing the grass 

 its mother is eating, and evidently debating .whether 

 or not it is safe to venture out of its resting-place, 

 and gambol about amongst the green dewy herbage. 

 Meantime the native moves not until the kangaroo, 

 having two or three times resumed the attitude of 

 listening, and having like a monkey scratched its side 

 with its fore paw, at length once more abandons itself 

 in perfect security to its feeding, and playfully smells and 

 rubs its little one. Now the watchful savage, keeping 

 his body unmoved, fixes the spear first in the throwing 

 stick, and then raises his arms in the attitude of throw- 

 ing, from which they are never again moved until the 



kangaroo dies or runs away. His spear being properly 

 secured, he advances slowly and stealthily, no part 

 moving but his legs. Whenever the kangaroo looks 

 round, he stands motionless in the position he is in 

 when it first raises its head, until the animal, again 

 assured of its safety, gives a skip or two, and goes on 

 feeding. Again the native advances, and this scene is 

 repeated many times, until the whistling spear pene- 

 trates the devoted animal." The Great Kangaroo and 

 others of its kindred, breed freely in this country, many 

 British-born individuals existing in the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens and in private collections. The 

 flesh is said to be good eating, and not unlike venison 

 in flavour. 



The so-called SOOTY KANGAROO (Macropus fuligi- 

 nosus of Desmarest), as well as two other large species 

 described by Mr. Gould in his attractive folio " Mono- 

 graph on Kangaroos," as M. ocydromusandM. melanops, 

 are, in Mr. Waterhouse's view, only probable varieties 

 of the Great Kangaroo. Very many other species, 

 however, are known to exist, of which we can only 

 specify the following : The BED KANGAROO (M. lani- 

 ger of Gould) is a large species occupying the interior 

 of the Australian continent, and frequenting the banks 

 of the river Darling and the Murrumbidgee. The 

 GREAT ROCK KANGAROO (M. robustus of Waterhouse), 

 or Black Wallaroo of the natives, is found in hilly 

 localities. The female has a silvery or grey colour, 

 and is much less than the male ; the fur of the latter 

 exhibiting a rich black tint. Amongst the smaller 

 species may be mentioned the BLACK-GLOVED KAN- 

 GAROO (M. Irma), which is about thirty inches in 

 length and found in Western Australia. Desmarest's 

 RED-NECKED KANGAROO (M. ruficullis], a species 

 well-known in this country, inhabits New South Wales 

 and King's Island. A very tiny species, called the 

 PANDEMELON WALLABY (M. T/ietides), is only twenty 

 inches long, excluding the tail, and is much sought after 

 for the sake of its flesh. The RED-BELLIED WAL- 

 LABY (M. Billardierii) is a gregarious species, as is 

 also the BRUSH-TAILED ROCK KANGAROO (M. penicil- 

 latus). LE BRUN'S KANGAROO (Halmaturus Asiati- 

 cm of Gray) is an inhabitant of New Guinea; it 

 possesses a very long narrow head with shortish ears, 

 the fore-legs being comparatively strong. The fur 

 exhibits a greyish colour generally, more or less tinged 

 with yellow, especially underneath. Respecting the 

 small HARE KANGAROO (Lagorchestes leporidcs), Mr. 

 Gould records the following amusing little incident : 

 " While out on the plains," he says, " I started a hare 

 kangaroo before two fleet dogs; after running to the 

 distance of a quarter of a mile, it suddenly doubled and 

 came back upon me, the dogs following at its heels. 

 I stood perfectly still, and the animal had arrived within 

 twenty feet before it observed me, when, to my aston- 

 ishment, instead of branching off to the right or the 

 left, it bounded clear over my head, and on descending 

 to the ground I was enabled to make a successful shot, 

 by which it was procured." Mr. Gould specifically 

 distinguishes several other closely allied forms, and 

 gives beautiful figures of them in his large work. 



In the Tree-Kangaroos the anterior and posterior 

 limbs have nearly the same length, whilst the tail is 



