WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 



are made, soon become acquainted with the appearance 

 of, and with many particulars connected with, new or 

 little-known animals that are from time to time brought 

 to this country. It is not so, however, with the vast 

 multitude of people who live away from cities and towns, 

 who have consequently not the opportunity of their more 

 fortunate brethren to increase their knowledge of Natural 

 History. Again, in the teaching of the elders of the 

 present generation in their infancy or childhood, their 

 fathers and grandfathers — -or rather it would be better to 

 say their mothers and grandmothers — had not seen or 

 heard enough of the recently-discovered animals of New 

 South Wales to be able to impart any information re- 

 specting them to their children. It is the early teaching 

 in the nursery that prepares the mind for the things that 

 we see in after life, and which teaching prevents the 

 sudden expression of the emotion of alarm, of fear, of 

 joy, etc. 



After all, the teaching by the eye is beyond all doubt 

 necessary, for however much we learn by books or words, 

 it is unequal to that which we witness as a means to 

 acquire knowledge. 



The habits and manners of the animal which forms the 

 subject of our paper differ so vastly from those of other 

 quadrupeds as to make it appear not to belong to the 

 same world. Had we not already recognized America as 

 the new world, Australia would have well deserved the 

 appellation, on account of the almost entire newness of all 

 the life-forms, not only in animals but in plants. Thus 

 may be accounted for in some measure the innumerable 

 instances of persons who on the first occasion of seeing, 

 at the Zoological Society's Gardens, a living kangaroo, 

 express and display far greater amazement than at the 

 first sight of much larger animals, such as the elephant, 



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