378 



THE POUCH OF THE KANGAROO. 



If the hunter should be on foot, he needs beware of the Kangaroo at bay, for the creature 

 is rather apt to dash through the dogs and attack its human opponent, who is likely to fare 

 badly in the struggle unless he succeeds in launching a fatal missile at the advancing animal. 



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 by 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 at 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 dan- 

 gerous 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 com- 

 mitted suicide by leaping against one of the tree-stumps which 

 are so plentifully found in the districts inhabited by the Kan- 

 garoo. 



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 Kan- 

 garoo 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 retractile, 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 develop- 

 ment, and when it has attained some little bodily powers occasionally 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 altogether, 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 it 

 scrambles back again into the pouch, and does not emerge until it is refreshed by repose, or 

 until all danger has passed away. 



Nearly eight months elapse between the time when the young Kangaroo is first placed in 



YOUNG KANGAHOO IN ITS MOTHER'S POUCH. 



