THE TASMANIAN DKYIL. 581 



with them, and when I am outside their enclosure they frequently 

 climb the wire-netting to the height of nearly six feet, and get 

 their little black faces close to mine with evident delight. We 

 have tried more than once to get them photographed, but it is 

 impossible to keep them quiet, they are on for a scamper all the 

 time. Recently an adult escaped, and it was discovered by a 

 passing school-boy sitting on a high fence bordering the street, 

 ■ under the shade of some elm-trees, many people passing on the 

 foot-path without observing it. They are, however, always very 

 timid when coming down. 



They are fond of the sun, and look well when basking in it, the 

 rays shining through make their ears appear a bright red, fore 

 feet parallel with the head, hind-quarters quite flat on the ground 

 and turned out at right angles, somewhat as a frog. 



My sympathy with my little black " brothers and sisters " is 

 intense, probably evoked by having suffered much mentally owing 

 to the gross cruelties which have come under my notice, the 

 result of capturing them in traps. Frequently three or four have 

 been sent to me in a crate, only to find later on one with a foot 

 shot off or a broken leg. In a consignment received some time 

 ago, a dead one was found ; it bore unmistakable signs of a snare 

 previously, round the neck, one foot was gone (an old injury), 

 and finally a recently smashed leg much swollen, the cause of 

 death. I communicated with the S. P. 0. A., and since then 

 have had none from that district. 



I have derived much pleasure from studying the habits and 

 disposition of the Tasmanian Devils, and have found that they 

 respond to kindness, and certainly show afi*ection and pleasure 

 when I approach them. I have been led to believe that no case 

 of their breeding in captivity has been recorded, and certainly 

 not in Tasmania. 



Others who do not know or understand them may Miink of them 

 as they like, but I, who love them, and have had considerable 

 experience in keeping most of our marsupials, from the Thylacine 

 down to the Opossum Mouse (Dromica nana), will always regard 

 them as first favourites, my little black playmates. 



