378 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



along in leaps of three or four yards, and can keep up this exertion 

 for an hour or two, clearing in its course obstacles which are serious 

 to pursuers, such as Dogs, which employ the ordinary .quadruped way 

 of going about. When thus travelling, it alights only on the toes of 

 the hind-feet, and it can also stand upright on these, with the aid of 

 the powerful tail, when it wishes to take a look round. On a slope 

 the Kangaroo is awkward and liable to overbalance itself, and so 

 avoids such ground when pursued. It swims well and powerfully, and 

 will often take to water when brought to bay. In this case, however, 

 it stands up on its hocks, and seeks to grapple its antagonist and force 

 him under water. On land, it takes up a similar position, and strikes 

 terrible blows with the powerful claws of the hind-feet, which are 

 quite capable of disembowelling an antagonist in the case of large 

 species like this. The Red Kangaroo is, indeed, the largest of the 

 family — a male measuring over eight feet in total length, of which 

 a yard is tail. The great difference between the sexes in this species 

 is rare among Marsupials ; the male only being red, while the female 

 is grey — often much more so than the specimen figured, 



The rose-pink colour on the male's throat looks unnatural in a 

 beast, and indeed it is not in the fur itself, but is due to staining by 

 a pollen-like substance — a sort of natural rouge which is secreted by 

 the skin in that part. Kangaroos have but one young one at a time, 

 and these are born not only blind and naked, but with the limbs 

 of nearly equal length ; the young are excessively small, being in a 

 large species like this only about as big as one's thumb at birth. 

 The mother places them in her pouch with her lips, holding it open 

 with her paws. When they cease to cling on to the teat, from which 

 they can at first be only removed by force, they put out their little 

 heads and begin to browse on the grass like their mother ; then they 

 venture out to hop about and play, but in case of alarm rush hastily 

 back to the old one and tumble head first into the pouch. A hunted 

 doe Kangaroo, if carrying a big young one, and hard pressed, will 

 fling the "Joey," as it is called in Australia, aside to lighten herself, 

 returning to look for it afterwards if she escapes with her life. So 

 swift is the female of the Red species, when unencumbered, that she 

 is called the " Flying Doe," and can hardly be caught by a Dog 

 except on soft ground ; the male is slower. 



