474 WILD ANIMALS. 



stance of a kangaroo carrjring or running away with a lad. 

 It occurred at the mail tent, midway between Wickliffe and Dun- 

 keld, on the Hamilton road to Portland. It appears that a 

 kangaroo dog, about three weeks since, was in pursuit of an old 

 man kangaroo and stuck him up. The lad, James Withington, 

 fearing that the dog would get the worse for attacking the 

 kangaroo, went to the dog's assistance, but no sooner did the 

 kangaroo see the lad than the boomer seized him by the body, 

 and carried him a distance of forty yards towards some dam that 

 was close by, evidently with the intention of making short work 

 of him by drowning him therein. The lad says he had a knife in 

 his pocket at the time he was being carried away, but the kan- 

 garoo held him so firmly in his grasp, that he was prevented from 

 cutting the throat of his supposed intending murderer. At last 

 the faithful dog, who had attacked him first, came to the rescue, 

 and saved his master from a premature death by drowning." 



In the magazine Once a Weelc, for March, 1867, Mr. Edward 

 Jesse published a letter that he had received from an old friend, 

 which gives a proof of what he calls " the ferocity " of the male 

 kangaroo when driven to extremity, but many people from such 

 accounts will arrive at the opinion that these animals are not 

 ferocious, but only when it is absolutely necessary intelligently 

 employ their faculties and natural weapons for self-preservation, 

 which is recognized as the first law of nature. This letter we 

 take the liberty of quoting : — 



" Speaking of kangaroos, I shall never forget what a struggle 

 I once had for life with one of these creatures. I had been out 

 kangaroo-hunting on my run in Queensland, taking with me a 

 black boy and a couple of dogs ; and after a very fair day's sport, 

 was returning home, when I fell in with an ' old man ' (local name 

 for a kangaroo) who had escaped us in the morning. I chased 

 him, and followed him into a water-hole, thinking he was pretty 

 well exhausted, there intending to finish him with the knife I 

 always carry in a strap round my waist, for the dogs had lingered 

 some distance behind with the black boy, who also carried my 

 gun ; but no sooner had I reached him than he sprang upon me, 

 and grasped me so tight in his two fore-legs, effectually pinion- 



