THE KANGAROO. 15 



THE KANGAROOS, 



IN THE COLLECTION OF EARL DARNLEY, AT COBHAM HALL, KENT. 



It was in the j^ear 1770, that this truly interesting animal was discovered in New Holland, by some 

 of the persons who accompanied Captain Cook in his first voyage round the world, and only three 

 species of them have as yet been ascertained, all of which are natives of that insular continent. It 

 appears, indeed, to be the chief animal production of that country, to the exclusion nearly of all the 

 other mammalia, with the exception, perhaps, of the dog, which appears to be almost the inseparable 

 companion of the human race. 



The Kangaroos have been frequently known to measure as much as nine feet in length from the tip of 

 the nose to the end of the tail, and to weigh one hundred and forty pounds. The head and anterior 

 parts are very slender and delicate, and they gradually increase in thickness as far as the loins ; the fore- 

 feet are furnished with five toes, and are seldom more than about nineteen inches in length, whilst the 

 hinder ones have only four toes, and are sometimes three feet and a half long ; they are perfectly bare and 

 callous beneath, possess uncommon strength, and when sitting erect, the animals i - est on the whole of. 

 their length. The claws are only three in number, the middle one greatly exceeding the others in 

 length and strength, but the inner one is of a peculiar structure; at first sight it appears to be single,. 

 but on further inspection it seems to be divided down the middle, and even through the ball of the 

 toe belonging to it. 



From the general form and structure of the Kangaroo, it is at once apparent that its chief progressive 

 motion must be by leaps. In those exertions it has been known to exceed twenty feet at a time, and 

 this so often repeated, as almost to elude the swiftness of the fleetest greyhound. It is able with ease 

 to bound over obstacles nine feet or more in height. 



The chief strength of the Kangaroos lies in their tail, which they use occasionally as a weapon of 

 defence, and with which they can strike so severe a blow as to break the leg of a man. But the tail is 

 not their only weapon, for when they are hunted by dogs they use both their claws and teeth ; on the 

 animals seizing them, they turn, and catching hold with the nails of the fore-paws, strike the dog with 

 the claws of their hinder feet, and sometimes lacerate the body in a very shocking manner. 



The teeth of the Kangaroo are only of two kinds, having six incisors in the upper jaw, emarginated,. 

 and only two in the lower ; the former are short, arranged in a curved line, and the latter are long, 

 sharp, and pointed forwards ; on each side of the jaw are five grinders, at some distance from the 

 other teeth. 



In regard to their natural habits in a wild state, our knowledge of them is very imperfect. They 

 are represented to live in burrows under ground, and their chief subsistence is vegetable substances, 

 but chiefly grass and roots. They feed in herds thirty or forty together, and it is generally to be 

 observed, that some of the older males are stationed at a distance to give an alarm in the event of 

 approaching danger. They appear to be nocturnal animals, having a nictitating or winking membrane 

 placed at the interior angle of the eye, capable of being extended at pleasure entirely over the ball. 



The Kangaroos belong to the marsupial tribes, exhibiting a character intermediate between the 

 quadrumana and the carnivora ; the female Kangaroo seldom brings forth more than one at a birth, 



