258 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
but not without some difficulty and caution. A full-sized 
‘ wool man’ at bay, always sits on his haunches, and when 
he rises to move forward, he stands four, or four and a 
half feet high. In this manner, he will, when pressed, 
meet a man, and hug and scratch him, if not to death, in 
such a way as he does not soon forget it. When hard 
pressed, and near to water, the Kanguroo always takes it; 
if it be deep water, and the dogs follow him, one or the 
other is almost sure to be drowned. If a single dog, the 
Kanguroo is nearly certain to come off victorious, by 
taking his assailant in his fore arms, and holding him 
under water till he is dead; but, if he has two dogs op- 
posed to him, he is not left at liberty to hold either of his 
opponents long enough under water to drown him, and 
he generally himself falls a sacrifice, after a long and hard 
struggle. Notwithstanding the courage and ferocity of 
the Kanguroo, when pressed, he is otherwise extreme- 
ly timid, and more easily domesticated than any wild ani- 
mal with which I am acquainted. The smaller ones are 
frequently quite as swift as a hare; and I have sometimes 
seen them outstrip the fleetest dogs. The kind of dog 
used for coursing the Kanguroo is generally a cross between 
the greyhound and the mastiff, or sheep-dog; but in a cli- 
mate like New South Wales, they have, to use the com- 
mon phrase, too much lumber about them. The true- 
bred greyhound is the most useful dog; he has more wind; 
he ascends the hill with more ease, and will run double 
the number of courses in a day. He has more bottom in 
running, and, if he has less ferocity when he comes up 
with an ‘ old man,’ so much the better, as he exposes him- 
self the less, and lives to afford sport another day. The 
strongest and most courageous dog can seldom conquer a 
‘wool man’ alone, and not one in fifty will face him fair- 
ly; the dog who has the temerity, is certain to be disa- 
bled, if not killed. 
“ The herd of Kanguroos we had thus come upon was 
too numerous to allow of the dogs beinglet loose; but, as the 
day’s walk was drawing to a close, I had given Maty Bill 
liberty to catch another Kanguroo, if we should fall in 
with a single one. After moving up to the foot of a hill, 
about a quarter of a mile from the river, my sable com- 
panion eyed a ‘ corbon wool man,’ as he called it, quietly 
feeding at a distance, on the slope of the hill. His eyes 
sparkled; he was all agitation: and he called out, ‘Massa! 
massa! You tee! you tee! wool man, wool man! corbon 
wool man!’ and off he ran with his dogs, till he was with- 
in a fair distance, when he slipped their collars. I was 
at this time on foot, and the whole of them, therefore, 
were soon out of my sight. They had turned round the 
bottom of the hill, in the direction of the river, and, as I 
was following them down, I heard the dogs at bay, and 
the shrill call of ‘ coo-oo-oo,’ from my companion, to 
direct me to the spot; and, on turning the corner of the 
hill, I met him, running, and calling as fast and as loud as 
he could. As soon as he saw me, he stopped and called 
out, — ‘Massa! massa! make haste; dingo, (dogs,) have got 
him in ribber. Many corbon wool man, all te same like 
it bullock.’ All this was said in a breath; and as I could 
not pretend to run with him, I desired him to go as fast 
as he could, and help the dogs, till I should arrive. When 
I got up to the spot, he was in the middle of the river, 
with about tw r o feet depth of water, while the Kanguroo, 
sitting upright on its haunches, was keeping both him and 
the dogs at a respectful distance, and had laid bare the 
windpipe of one of the dogs. Billy’s Waddy was too 
short to reach him without coming to close quarters, and 
he knew better than to do that; at length he got behind 
him, and with a blow on the head, he despatched him. 
No huntsman could have shown more ardour in pursuit, 
or more pleasure at the death of a fox, than did poor Maty 
Bill upon this occasion. The Kanguroo was so heavy, 
weighing about a hundred and fifty pounds, that he could 
not lift him out of the water, and we were obliged to leave 
him till our party arrived on the opposite side. A fresh 
scene of pleasure ensued among the natives when they be- 
came acquainted with our good fortune. They were now 
all in the river, from whence they drew the ‘wool man,’ 
and placed him on the back of one of the horses. I wished 
to have left him, as we had already enough; but, as they 
were eager beyond every thing to take him, I indulged 
them. It appears that the natives have a great partiality 
for the flesh of the old and large Kanguroos, just as we 
have for mutton or venison of a proper age. I never could 
discover any difference in flavour; but, if they can partake 
of a ‘ wool man,’ they refuse any other; and, when asked 
the reason, they replied to me, ‘ Wool man’ budge- 
ree (food) fatter. Black fellow like him always more 
better.’ ” 
ON THE SCENT OF BIRDS. 
A power is supposed to be exercised by birds in sup- 
pressing that peculiar odour, which enables the dog to 
scent them. Some of the occurrences of a day’s sporting, 
have gone very far towards satisfying me that the theory 
is correct. 
I was out with a companion, each of us having a dog. 
After traversing much ground, without success, our point- 
ers nosed a covey of partridges, and we prepared for a 
shot; one of the birds upon “the extreme left,” received 
