QUADRUPEDS. 



335 



the Rodentia, and between the Duck-bill and Spiny 

 Ant-eater, and the Edentata. 



The largest and most attractive, as well as most valuable 

 animals of this Class, are the Kangaroos (Macropus). Every 

 child is familiar with its elegant taper figure, its gentle 

 deer-like face, its short fore-feet dangling at its breast as it 

 stands erect on its long and powerful hind limbs and its 

 immense tail. There are few, moreover, who have not read 

 of its singular mode of progression, by vast leaps, through 

 the Australian scrubs. Its flesh is excellent venison, and 

 the European settlers hunt it with hound and horse. Mr 

 Gregson describes in a graphic manner a fine run of 

 eighteen miles, performed by an old boomer, as the Great 

 Kangaroo is called, andadds the following more general notes 

 of its habits, with which we dismiss the Marsupialta : — 



" We did not measure the distance of the hop of the 

 Kangaroo ; but on another occasion, in which the boomer 

 had taken along the beach, and left the prints in the sand, 

 the length of each jump was found to be fifteen feet, and 

 as regular as if they had been stepped by a sergeant. 

 When a boomer is pressed, he is very apt to take to the 

 water, and then it requires several good dogs to kill him ; 

 for he stands waiting for them, and as they swim up to the 

 attack, he takes hold of them with his fore-feet, and holds 

 them under water. ' The buck is very bold, and will gene- 

 rally make a stout resistance ; for if he cannot get to the 

 water, he will place his back against a tree so that he can- 

 not be attacked from behind, and then the best dog will 

 find him a formidable antagonist. The doe, on the con- 

 trary, is a very timid creature, and I have even seen one 

 die of fear." * 



* Gould's "Mamm. of Austr." 



