248 



POUCHED MAMMALS. 



Guillemard, who had two of these animals alive on board ship, which he had 

 captured in New Guinea, writes that the tree-kangaroo " is as yet a tyro in the 

 art of climbing, performing this operation in the slowest and most awkward 

 manner. Our pets, for instance, would take a full minute or more in ascending the 

 back of a chair, but their hold is most secure ; and if we wished to pull them off, 

 we had considerable difficulty in doing so, so tightly do they cling." It is added 

 that the tail, although not actually prehensile, is pressed against the branches in 

 climbing, and appears to be of considerable assistance. Of the Queensland species, 



THE BLACK TREE-KANGAROO (\ liat. size). 



locally known as the bungari, Dr. Lumholtz, its discoverer, writes that it frequents 

 the densest and most inaccessible portions of the highest mountainous scrubs, where 

 even the aborigines are scarcely able to penetrate. From the marks of its claws on 

 the trees of the more open districts, the animal appeared to have been once common 

 there, but is now nearly exterminated by the blacks. When disturbed, these 

 kangaroos are stated to travel considerable distances ; and they are also reported 

 by the blacks to be most commonly seen abroad on moonlight nights. Two or 

 three are often found sleeping in the same tree ; and it is stated that they affect 

 only one particular kind of tree, which grows to a considerable height. In rainy 

 weather, lower trees are selected. 



