THE DANDENONG KANGES. 329 



horses for the purpose of going to another part of the 

 station, where our host promised us a sight of, and perhaps a 

 shot at a kangaroo. The country as we ascended the hills 

 became more dry and scrubby, intermixed here and there 

 with open plains; we had no dogs with us such as are 

 generally used in hunting this animal, and which I shall 

 speak of hereafter. We had drawn our charges of shot, 

 and replaced them with ball, and were making our way 

 in line as well as we were able through a thick cover, 

 interspersed with cherry (a sort of cypress) and mimosa 

 trees, when a very large female kangaroo, accompanied 

 by two young ones, bounded away, about twenty yards 

 in advance of us, from behind the blackened and fallen 

 trunk of an immense gum-tree. The whole family received 

 a volley from us, with apparently very little effect, as 

 they immediately disappeared in the bush, nor indeed did 

 we see anything more of them. We saw several more kan- 

 garoos at a distance in the grassy plains during the course of 

 the day, but could not obtain a shot, and returned in the 

 evening to the hospitable mansion of our entertainer with 

 about twenty couple of snipe, several plover, and the noble 

 black swan I have described above. I need not say that we 

 did ample justice to the beefsteaks, and roast wild-duck and 

 snipe which were placed in profusion on the board, to which 

 fare our friend the doctor had made a goodly addition in the 

 shape of the various drinkables he had brought from Mel- 

 bourne. After a refreshing night's sleep, I arose at a very 

 early hour the following morning, determined, if possible, to 

 get both a sight and a shot at the rare and beautiful lyre- 

 bird (memora superba), which was very frequently heard and 

 known to frequent the low and thick scrub with which one 

 side of the Dandenong range was covered, and, indeed, the 

 whole country between Port Philip heads and Western Port. 

 Mr. Haydon, who surveyed this part of the country in 1844, 



