314 THE LIVING ANIMALS 
OF THE WORLD 
Photo by D. Le Souef] 
PARRY’S WALLABY 
In attitude of listening 
1 
it was discharged, to rush about 
in an aimless manner, and, as 
frequently happens, in the im- 
mediate direction of the hidden 
sportsman. Inthe good old times 
it is recorded that an experienced 
hand might kill as many as 
seventy or eighty kangaroos in 
a day by this stalking method. 
The marsupials are at the present 
date, however, so severely deci- 
mated that even in the most 
favourable settled districts a bag 
of from twelve to twenty head 
must be regarded as exceptional. 
Stalking the kangaroo on foot 
without the horse’s aid is more 
strongly recommended to those 
to whom an occasional shot is 
considered sufficiently remunera- 
tive. Taking full advantage of 
intervening bushes and other 
indigenous cover, an approach to 
within a hundred yards or so of the quarry may be usually accomplished, though not quite so 
easily, perhaps, as might be at first anticipated. 
It is the habit of the kangaroo to sit*up 
waist-high in the midst of the sun-bleached grass, which corresponds so closely in colour 
with its own hide that unless the animal is silhouetted against the sky-line it readily escapes 
detection. 
The conditions under which the kangaroo is obtained for the main purpose of supplying 
the human commissariat is perhaps most aptly illustrated in connection with its chase as. 
prosecuted bythe Australian 
aborigines. In Tasmania 
and the Southern Australian 
States the primeval man is 
either extinct or more rare 
than the kangaroo. In the 
extreme north and far north- 
west, however, he still poses 
as “the lord of creation,” 
and conducts his hunting 
expeditions on a lordly scale. 
The food-supply of the 
Australian native is essenti- 
ally precarious. Long inter- 
vals of “short commons” 
are interspersed with brief 
periods of over-abundance, 
in which he indulges his 
appetite to its fullest bent. 
A kangaroo drive on native 
lines represents to the 
Australian mind one of these 
Photo by D. Le Souef } 
Melbourne 
PARRY’S WALLABY 
Characteristic feeding attitude 
