HALMATURUS RUFICOLLIS. 



Rufous-necked Wallaby. 



Spec. Char. — Halm.ferruginoso-fusciis, albo-irroratiis ; nota alba modice distincta per labrimi usque ad oculum ducta ; corpore 

 sicbtus cinerescenti-albo, pilis ad basin cmereis, ad apicem albis. 



Descr. — General colour rusty brown pencilled with white ; fur on the back grey at the base, succeeded by rusty, broadly 

 annulated with white near the extremity, and black at the point ; neck and shoulders almost entirely of a bright 

 rust-red ; muzzle brownish black ; on the upper lip a tolerably distinct white mark, which runs backward and 

 terminates beneath the eye ; apical half of the ear externally blackish ; internal surface of the ear well clothed 

 with white hairs, the tip narrowly margined with black ; on the chin a patch of black ; throat pure white ; 

 under surface of the body grey-white, the hairs being grey at the base and white at the extremity ; arms bright 

 rust-colour grizzled with black and rusty Avhite ; hands black ; tarsi clothed with white hairs, all of which are 

 brownish black at the base ; toes covered with black hairs ; tail hoary grey with a small pencil of black hairs at 

 the tip. 



. Male. 



feet, inches. 



Length from the nose to the extremity of the tail . 5 3^ 



of tail 2 4i 



„ „ tarsus and toes, including the nail 9 



„ „ arm and hand, including the nails 9 



„ „ face from the tip of the nose to the base of the ear ... 5^ 



„ „ ear 3^ 



Kangurm nificoUis, Desm. Ency. Meth. Mamm., p. 274. . - 



rufo-griseus, Desm. lb., p. 273. 



Macropiis ruficottis, Less. Man. de Mamm., p. 226. 



TVarroon of the Aborigines of the lUawarra district. 



This species of Halmaturus has been long known as forming part of the continental collections, particularly those of 

 Paris and Leyden ; the specimens therein contained have been described under at least two specific names, nificollh and 

 rufo-griseus, and Mr. J. E. Gray believes that the Macropus elegans of Lambert is also referable to the same animal ; an 

 opinion in which, however, I cannot concur, as neither the drawing in the ' Linnean Transactions,' nor the accompanying 

 description of the far, which is said to be of "a beautiful silver-grey," at all agrees with the one here figured, in any 

 -state of its colouring. The M. elegans is, moreover, said to be very scarce in New South Wales, while the H. nificollis 

 is more abundant there than any other : the aboriginal name of the latter is Warroon, while that of the former is said to 

 be Ba-garee ; a further argument in favour of their being distinct. 



The undefined markings and variable colouring of the present animal have much puzzled me, and I am led to suspect 

 that the Brush Wallaby of Van Diemen's Land, to which Mr. Waterhouse has given the name of Bennettii, in honour of 

 the late estimable Secretary of the Zoological Society, may be identical with it ; and I am strengthened in this suppo- 

 sition, by having observed that, as we proceed from Van Diemen's Land northward through the islands of Bass's Straits 

 to the continent of AustraUa, the thick dark-coloured fur gradually gives place to a thinner and rusty red coat similar 

 to the figures here given, from examples taken in New South Wales ; but should this supposition ultimately prove to be 

 unfounded, it must be conceded that the larger species of Wallaby inhabiting Flinders and King's Islands will be refer- 

 able to the present species, and not to Bennettii, whose habitat would then be ^confined to Van Diemen's Land. I may 

 here mention, that Peron's specimens in the Paris Museum were collected on King's Island, and are the originals from 

 which Desmarest took his descriptions of rujicollis and rufo-griseus. I hope ere long to receive perfect skeletons of 

 this or these animals, as the case may be, from different localities, by which means alone can it be determined whether 

 or not they are identical. 



This species was formerly common near Sydney, but is now gradually retiring before the advance of civilized man ; 

 it is still, however, abundant in the thick Daveysia scrub on the table-land behind Illawarra, particuhirly on the fine estate 

 at Bong-Bong, belonging to Charles Throsby, Esq., to whom I am indebted for many friendly attentions, and for his 

 assistance in procuring fine specimens of this animal. 



