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CHAPTER XXYIII. 



KANGAEOOS {GENUS MACROPODID^). 



Specimens of these unique members of the animal world can 

 generally be seen at the present day in any of the well-known 

 public zoological collections, and also in many of the private 

 ones. Even in the damp, uncertain climate of England, kangaroos 

 can be said to have become more or less naturalized, for they 

 not only breed regularly under the fostering care of the keepers 

 in the Regent's Park menagerie, but have been kept out in the 

 open in the parks of several English landowners. They used to 

 be seen in the grounds at Glastonbury Abbey, also on the estates 

 of Lord Hill and the Duke of Marlborough, and during the life- 

 time of the late Lord Derby they formed part of the Knowsley 

 collection of rare animals that the enterprising earl endeavoured 

 to acclimatize. They were also kept in other places, and in this 

 way these animals became a familiar sight to many Englishmen 

 whose great-grandfathers had never even heard that such 

 creatures existed, for it is only a little over a hundred years ago 

 since they were first discovered. Their appearance is so unlike 

 that of any other class of quadruped, that the bold explorers of 

 the now well-known southern seas, when they first beheld such 

 large animals hopping and bounding about on the plains at the 

 various places where they landed, examined them with considerable 

 wonderment, as is evident from the narratives of the event. 



In May, 1768, the small but good ship Endeavour, of 370 tons, 

 commanded by Captain (then Lieutenant) Cook, with several men 

 of science, including Mr. Joseph Banks (afterwards Sir), set sail 

 on that voyage of discovery which was fated to be a memorable 

 one and to enroll the name of Cook, whilom a Yorkshire haber- 



