THE GREAT KANGUROO, 389 



Hound's seizing them, they turn, and catching 

 hold with the nails of their fore paws, strike the 

 Dog with the claws of their hind feet, which are 

 wonderfully strong, and tear him to such a de- 

 gree that the hunters are frequently under the ne- 

 cessity of carrying him home on account of the se- 

 X'crity of his wounds *. — The native Dogs of the 

 country hunt and kill the Kanguroo ; but these are 

 more fierce than our Greyhounds. In the year 

 1788, one of them was seen, by one of the colonists, 

 in this pursuit ; and the person, till he had shot 

 the Dog, mistook them both for Kanguroos t. 



The Kanguroo generally feeds standing on its four 

 feet, in the manner of other quadrupeds. It drinks 

 by lapping. When in a state of captivity, it has 

 sometimes a trick of springing forwards and kicking 

 with its hind-feet in a very forcible manner ; dur- 

 ing which action it rests or props itself on the base 

 of its tail :}:. 



The female has two mammae, or breasts, in the 

 abdominal pouch, on each of which are two teats : 

 yet, so far as has been hitherto observed, she pro- 

 duces but one young one at a birth ; and so ex- 

 ceedingly diminutive is this at its first exclusion from 

 the uterus, that it scarcely exceeds an inch in 'ength, 

 and weighs but twenty-one grains. At this early 

 period of its growth, the niouth is merely a round 

 jiole, just large enough to receive the point of the 

 nipple ; but it gradually extends with age, till ca- 

 pable of receiving the whole nipple, which then 



Hunter. Gt?. t Ibid. 67. + Shaw, i 510. 



Cc 3 



