MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA 207 



FAMILY DASYITRID-a:. — The Family Dasyurid^ includes those 

 remarkable carnivorous Marsupials, the Tasmanian Wolf and the 

 Tasmanian Devil; it also embraces the so-called Native "Cats" or 

 Dasyures. 



TASMANIAN TIGER.— The animal known to the colonists as 

 the Tasmanian "Wolf" (Fig. 159) or "Tiger," is confined to the 

 Island from which its "front" name is derived. It has been so 

 ruthlessly hunted down that it is now exceedingly rare, and perhaps 

 within measurable distance of total extinction. Certainly it takes 

 toll of the Island flocks, but Science demands that such an inter- 

 esting animal as the Thylacine should not become a mere memory 

 or be represented only by skulls and stuffed skins in the museums 

 of the world. 



Wolf-like in general appearance, the Thylacine has short close 

 fur of a pale greyish-brown colour, with a tawny tint; the hinder 

 portion of the back is transversely banded with blackish-brown 

 stripes, sixteen in number; these are continued on the tail, which 

 has a dark crested tip and measures twenty-one inches in length. 

 The head and body are forty-four inches "over all." The Tas- 

 manian Wolf is nocturnal in its habits, spending the hours of 

 sunlight in a cave of the rocks or a hollow tree trunk. It inhabits 

 only the wildest parts of the Island, and in the night-watches issues 

 from its lair to raid the flocks. It is a lonely hunter, and its ferocity 

 makes it a formidable adversary for the shepherd's faithful dogs. 

 The cry of the Thylacine is a low guttural growl or cough rapidly 

 repeated. Four young ones are produced at a birth. 



TASMANIAN DEVIL.— The Tasmanian Devil (Fig. 161), like the 

 Thylacine, is no longer common as it was in the early days of 

 settlement. The Devil is a great sheep-killer, and so its days on 

 earth are numbered. It is nocturnal in habit and spends the day 

 in its burrow. In general appearance the Tasmanian Devil 

 resembles a Bear. The body is very powerfully built, and the head 

 large and broad. The fur is thick and close and generally of a 

 black or blackish-brown colour. White patches are sometimes 

 present on neck, shoulders, rump and chest, the horse-shoe-shaped 

 marks in the latter position being constant. The length of the head 

 and body is about twenty-eight inches in a full-grown specimen, 

 tail twelve inches. The animal is provided with very powerful 

 canine teeth ; it is of sluggish disposition, but so fierce when aroused 

 that it becomes a foe which the sheep-dogs are loath to attack. Its 



