280 THE GREATER KANGAROO. 



five toes or fingers, each furnished with a moderately strong 

 and curved claw j while the hinder feet have only four toes, 

 the two middle ones of which are united together and seem 

 as one, furnished with two short and feeble claws ; the third 

 toe is long, very strong, and terminated by a large and powerful 

 hoof-like clawj and the fourth toe, the outermost of all is similar 

 to the third in its character, but smaller. Whether assuming 

 an erect position, or crouching forwards upon all fours, the 

 whole extent of the soles of the long posterior feet is applied 

 to the surface of the ground. The tail, which is very long 

 and tapering, is so exceedingly thick at the upper portion, that 

 when the animal assumes an erect or nearly erect position, on 

 the hind legs, its body is supported as it were on a tripod by 

 this powerful appendage acting as a third leg 5 and even during 

 progression the tail is converted into a locomotive organ, nearly 

 as serviceable as the extremities themselves. When alarmed 

 and flying from danger, this powerful member is repeatedly 

 compressed and beaten against the ground, so that, aided also 

 by the long and elastic hind-legs, the animal is enabled to 

 bound along the earth with astonishing rapidity and agility, 

 often taking a succession of leaps of from twenty to thirty feet 

 in length, and six or eight in height. Except when alarmed 

 or grazing, it always stands upright. 



These animals are entirely herbivorous, feeding principally 

 upon grass and roots.* Mr. Martin says, that they regurgigate, 

 or chew the cud, occasionally, but not habitually .f 



The colonists of New South Wales hunt them for their flesh, 

 which is savoury, nutritious, and easily digested. The dogs 

 which are employed in this chace sometimes receive dangerous 

 wounds, not only from the blows inflicted by the powerful 

 tail, which is the kangaroos' usual weapon of defence, but also 

 from the claws of the hind feet, with which they can severely 



* A writer in one of the early volumes of the Penny Magazine tells us, 

 however, that he has a tame kangaroo which " laps tea out of a saucer, and 

 picks a bone like a monkey." 



f Mag. Nat. Hist. (New Series, 1838), vol. ii. p. 323. 



