198 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



require it, but is of little assistance in supporting tlie weight of the trunk. Its muffle, that is to say, 

 the end of the nose, is naked, as in the scrub-inhabiting Kangaroos just noticed, and it forms the type 

 of the sub-genus Heteropiis " (eVepos, altered, irovs, foot). 



One of these was hunted and shot amongst the woods of Liverpool plains, New South Wales, by 

 Sir Edward Parry, who wrote that they appear to be gregarious, and seem to prefer the neighbourhood 

 of rocky ground, in which they had holes, and to which, when, hunted, they retreated. They swarm 

 along in groups one after the other, and jump from side to side, alighting on ledges so slightly prominent 

 that their resting thereon appears to be an impossibility. They go into caves and holes in the rocks 

 during the day, and they enjoy the night, and gambol and feed by moonlight. 



A Rock Kangaroo, with white and black bands on it, inhabits Western Australia, and a short- 

 eared kind enjoys the hot sands and high rocks of Hanover Bay. There is a Kangaroo in the island 

 of New Guinea (Macropus Brunii), and it was the first seen by Europeans. 



THE COMMON TREE KANGAROO.* 



This is an inhabitant of New Guinea, and instead of frequenting the brush and scrub, which are 

 not physical features found in the island, or the rocks, it lives in the forests, and is no mean but rather 

 a good climber of trees. There is a Kangaroo look about the animal, even when it is seated on a thick 

 branch, but the fur is very different to that of its fellows of Australia. The fur looks coarse and 

 harsh, and is not very unlike that of a Bear. There is no soft under fur, but all the hairs are long and 

 resemble the long ones of the Kangaroos, and the ears are quite clothed with it. Then, as the animal 



glides down the stem of a 

 tree, the shortness of the 

 hind legs becomes apparent; 

 moreover, the claws on the 

 foot do not resemble those of 

 the Kangaroo. The feet are 

 stout but rather short, and 

 the toes are more equal in 

 size than in the other 

 Kangaroos. The claw of 

 the outer toe is often on a 

 line with the middle of the 

 longest one (the fourth), 

 whilst the nails of the 

 double inner toe extend 

 slightly beyond its base. 

 The nail of this large fourth 

 toe is about an inch in 

 length. Then the fore limbs 

 are nearly as large as the 

 hind ones, and are very 

 strongly made, and so are 

 the hands, the claw of the 

 middle finger being three- 

 quarters of an inch in 

 length. It has a clumsy- 



COMMOX THEE KANGAROO. looking head, with a high 



muzzle and small lower 



jaw. The upper lip is straight. It has a large face and small ears, and the colour of the fur is 

 brown-black and yellow-brown. The tail is very long, tapers slightly, and is considerably of use in 

 steadying the climber, and it is carried very much after the fashion of the other Kangaroos when 



Dendrolagus ursinus (Mull.). 



