THE TASMANIAN WOLF. 385 



is considerable, and its usual haunts are among the masses of dense scrub foliage that cover so 

 vast an extent of ground in its native country. Its nest is similar to that of the bandicoot, 

 being made of dried grass and leaves rather artistically put together, the grass, however, pre- 

 dominating over the leaves. The locality of the nest is generally at the foot of a dense bush, 

 or of a heavy tuft of grass, and it is so carefully veiled from view by the mode of its construc- 

 tion that it can scarcely be discovered by the eyes of any but an experienced hunter. 



The head of the Chseropus is rather peculiar, being considerably lengthened, cylindrically 

 ' tapering towards the nose, so that its form has been rather happily compared to the neck and 

 shoulders of a champagne bottle. The hinder feet are like those of the bandicoots, and there 

 is a small swelling at the base of the toes of the fore-feet, which is probably the representative 

 of the missing joints, more especially as the outermost toes are always extremely small in the 

 bandicoots, to which the Chseropus is nearly allied. The ears are very large in proportion to 

 the size of the animal. The pouch opens backwards. The food of the Chseropus is said to 

 be of a mixed character, and to consist of various vegetable substances and of insects. 



The teeth of the Dasyurines, sharp-edged and pointed, indicate the carnivorous character 

 of those animals to which they belong. At the head of these creatures is placed the Tas- 

 manian Wolf, or Dog-headed Thylacintts, as it has often been named on account of the 

 curious aspect of its thick head, and powerful, truncated muzzle. 



Although not perhaps the fiercest of the Dasyurines, it is the largest and the most power- 

 ful, well deserving the lupine title with which it has been by common consent designated, and 

 representing in Tasmania the true wolves of other countries. It is not a very large animal, as 

 needs must be from the nature of the country in which it lives, for there would be but small 

 subsistence in its native land for herds of veritable wolves, and the natural consequence would 

 be that the famished animals would soon take to eating each other in default of more legiti- 

 mate food, and by mutual extirpation thin down the race or destroy it altogether. 



The natural subsistence of the Tasmanian, or Zebra Wolf, as it is sometimes called by vir- 

 tue of the zebra-like stripes which decorate its back, consists of the smaller animals, mollusks, 

 insects, and similar substances. The animal is also in the habit of prowling along the sea- 

 shore in restless search of food among the heterogeneous mass of animal and vegetable substances 

 that the waves constantly fling upon the beach, and which are renewed with every succeeding 

 tide. The mussels and other mollusks which are found so profusely attached to the sea-edged 

 rocks form a favorite article "of diet with the Tasmanian Wolf, who is sometimes fortunate 

 enough to discover upon the beach the remains of dead seals and fish, and can easily make a 

 meal on the shore crabs which are found so plentifully studding the beach as the tide goes out. 



Though hardly to be considered a swift, or even a quick animal, the Tasmanian Wolf 

 contrives to kill such agile prey as the bush kangaroo, and secures the duck mole, or duck bill, 

 in spite of its natatory powers and its subterranean burrow. When the animal is hungry it 

 seems to become a very camel in its capability of devouring hard and thorny substances, for it 

 has been known to kill — no easy matter — and to swallow — an apparent impossibility — the 

 echidna itself, undismayed by its panoply of bayonet-like prickles. The deed seems so incred- 

 ible that it would hardly have been believed, had it not been proved beyond doubt by the 

 slaughter and subsequent dissection of a Tasmanian Wolf, in whose stomach were found the 

 remains of a half -digested echidna. 



As soon as civilized inhabitants took up their abode in Tasmania, this animal made great 

 capital out of the sheep flocks and hen-roosts, and for some time committed sad ravages among 

 them, greatly to the detriment' of the colonists. By degrees, however, the weapons of the 

 white man prevailed, and the Tasmanian Wolf was driven back from its former haunts, where 

 it once reigned supreme. Still continuing to prowl round the habitation of mankind, many 

 individuals of this species were fain to pick up what loose and uncertain subsistence they could 

 contrive to appropriate, and, being forced to live in copses and jungles, became the representa- 

 tives of the hyena as well as of the Wolf. 



In the earlier days of the colony, the Tasmanian Wolf was of very frequent occurrence, 

 but is now seldom seen except in the cold and dreary localities where it takes up its residence. 



