470 WILD ANIMALS. 



compared with other animals, it becomes long and thick of a 

 greyish-brown colour. Some very different opinions exist with 

 regard to the appearance of these animals, for certain people 

 describe them as being very graceful, and others as awkward and 

 ungainly in the extreme. Probably both these views are to some 

 extent correct, paradoxical as this may sound; but kangaroos 

 come from a continent remarkable for the curious and what may 

 be called paradoxical structure of many species of its fauna, such 

 as the Ornithorhynchus, which is the barbarous name given to the 

 " duck-billed water-mole," and other peculiar-looking creatures. 

 It is in reality a mere trifle in the eccentricity of Australian 

 mammals, that one species should display combinations of widely 

 divergent characters. 



When a kangaroo is sitting erect on a base made with its 

 extensive development of hind-limbs and thick tail, its short and 

 slender fore-limbs hanging negligently by its side, and its small 

 deer-shaped head turned so as to display its soft and lustrous 

 eyes, mild and placid countenance, and long erect and well-shaped 

 ears, the animal cannot be described as inelegant, but very much 

 the reverse. When, however, it begins to move, its progress is 

 certainly accomplished in a most ungainly fashion for so large a 

 creature ; it either hops on its two long hind-legs or, tilting itself on 

 to the two short fore ones, it draws the hind-limbs as far forward 

 as possible, cramping up the body, and then repeats the operation, 

 the stride being therefore about equal to the animal's length. 



" Among the singular positions assumed by kangaroos," ob- 

 serves Mr. Mcols,^ " a most striking one deserves mention. In 

 order to see better over long grass or ferns they raise themselves 

 quite on the tips of the large claws attached to the hind-limbs, at 

 the same time stiffening the tail. The animal then stands upon a 

 tripod, formed by the tail and the hind-legs, all three members 

 being quite straight and rigid, and is then probably between six 

 feet and seven feet high. An apparition of this kind rose suddenly 

 close to me while stalking one day, and surprised me greatly, for 

 I could not see the lower limbs, and had no idea how the animal 

 had become so tall ; but I have since observed the attitude fre- 

 3 " Zoological Notes," by Arthur MroIs, F.G.S., F.E.G.S. 



