254 MARSUPIALS AND THEIR SKINS 



noted that a tame kangaroo, when not afraid of his 

 owner, always ' boxes ' if he is sparred with, putting 

 up his short fore-arms and paws directly the man's 

 hands approach his nose, and retaliating by blows like 

 those which a rabbit gives with its fore-feet. One of 

 the wallabies at the Zoo does exactly the same, and 

 even punches its keeper in the back if after a round 

 or two he turns to leave the cage. A small fortune 

 was waiting for anyone who could get a good large 

 ' boomer ' kangaroo, reasonably tame, in time to set 

 him boxing before the novelty wore out. But though 

 the great gray kangaroo was quite cheap and common 

 in menageries twenty years ago, it was discovered that 

 the visible supply in Europe had dwindled almost 

 to nothing. The dealers could count the available 

 specimens on the fingers of one hand, and as these 

 were in the gardens of learned societies, they were not 

 for sale. The price rose from the nominal one of 

 twelve pounds to sixty pounds. The Dublin Zoo were 

 offered eighty pounds for one which they had bought 

 for forty pounds, and refused the double price. The 

 few specimens in the Continental zoological gardens 

 were bought early by speculative showmen, and resold 

 at huge profits ; and a syndicate which was formed 

 later to exhibit a boxing kangaroo in Paris at an 

 engagement of three hundred pounds a week had to be 

 broken up because not one could be obtained. Every 



