THE POUCH OF THE KANGAROO. 



473 



Sometimes the Kangaroo comes to bay near water, and then takes a singular 

 advantage of the situation. If any dog should be bold enough to come within reach, 

 the Kangaroo picks up its foe in its fore-paws, and leaping to the water, holds the dog 

 under the surface until it is dead. On one occasion, a Boomer had come to bay in 

 some shallow water, and was already engaged in drowning a dog, when it was assailed 

 by the remainder of the hounds, which had just arrived. Nothing daunted by their 

 onset, the Kangaroo kept its dying foe under water by holding it down with one of its 

 hind-feet, and held itself prepared to repeat the process upon the next dog that should 

 attack. 



But the Kangaroo is wise enough to postpone an actual combat until it is absolutely 

 forced to fight, and uses every stratagem in its endeavors to escape. When pressed 

 very hardly by the hounds, the Boomer has often been known to make a sudden leap 

 to right angles to its former course, and to make good its escape before the dogs could 

 recover themselves. This mode of proceeding is, however, rather a dangerous one, as 

 the animal has more than once broken one of its legs by the sudden strain that is thrown 

 upon the right or left leg, as the case may be. 



When running, the creature has a curious habit of looking back every now and then, 

 and has sometimes unconsciously committed suicide by leaping against one of the tree- 

 stumps which are so plentifully found in the districts inhabited by the Kangaroo. 



The doe Kangaroo displays very little of these running or fighting capabilities, and has 

 been known, when chased for a very short distance, 

 to lie down and die of fear. Sometimes when pursued, 

 it contrives to elude the dogs by rushing into some 

 brushwood, and then making a very powerful leap to 

 one side, so as to throw the dogs off the scent. She 

 lies perfectly still as the dogs rush past her place of 

 concealment, and when they have fairly passed her, 

 she quietly makes good her escape in another direction. 

 When young, and before she has borne young, the 

 female Kangaroo affords good sport, and is called, 

 from her extraordinary speed, the " flying Doe." 



The extraordinary pouch in which the young of 

 the Kangaroo and other marsupiated animals are 

 nourished has already been casually mentioned, and 

 as it is highly developed in the Kangaroo, it will be 

 described in connection with this animal. 



The young animal when first born is of extremely 

 minute dimensions, hardly exceeding an inch in total 

 length, soft, helpless, and semi-transparent as an earth- 

 worm. After birth it is instantly conveyed into the 

 pouch, and instinctively attaches itself to one of the 

 nipples, which are very curiously formed, being re- 

 tractile, like the finger of a glove when not in use, 

 and capable of being drawn out to a considerable 

 degree when they are needed by the young animal. 

 In the accompanying engraving this structure is very 

 well delineated. 



In this internal cradle the young Kangaroo passes 

 the whole of its earlier stages of development, and YOUNG KANGAROO IN ITS MOTHER'S POUCH. 

 when it has attained some little bodily powers occa- 

 sionally loosens its hold, and pokes its head out of the 



pouch, as if to see how large the world really is. By degrees it gains sufficient strength 

 to crop the more delicate herbage, and in course of time, it leaves the pouch alto- 

 gether, and skips about the plains under the ever watchful protection of its mother. 

 No sooner, however, is the little animal tired, or does the mother see cause of danger, 

 than its crambles back again into the pouch, and does not emerge until it is refreshed by 

 repose, or until all danger has passed away. 



