372 
THE STORY OF THE KANGAROO. 
has been seen to exceed twenty feet at a time, and this so often repeated as 
almost to elude the swiftness of the fleetest greyhound; and it is able with 
ease to bound over obstacles as much as nine feet or more in height. 
Kangaroos have vast strength in their tail. This they occasionally use 
as a weapon of defense; for they are able to* strike with it so violent a blow 
as even to break a man’s leg. But this is not their only weapon, for, when 
hunted, as they sometimes are, with greyhounds, they use both their claws and 
teeth. On the hounds’ seizing them they turn, and catching hold with the 
nails of the fore-paws, strike the dog with the claws of their hind feet, and 
sometimes lacerate his body in a shocking manner. 
The kangaroo' generally feeds standing on its four feet, in the manner 
of other quadrupeds, and it drinks by lapping. In a state of captivity it has 
a trick of sometimes springing forward, and kicking, in a forcible manner, 
with its hind-feet, during which action it rests or props itself on the base of 
its tail. 
The female seldom produces more than one young at a birth, and so ex¬ 
ceedingly diminutive is this that it scarcely exceeds an inch in length, and 
weighs but twenty-one grains. It is received into' the abdominal pouch of the 
mother. At this period of its growth its fore-paws are comparatively large 
and strong, and the claws extremely distinct, to facilitate its motion during 
its residence in its mother’s pouch. The hind legs, which are afterwards to 
become very bony and stout, are then shorter and smaller than the others. 
The young one continues to reside in the pouch till it has nearly attained 
maturity. It occasionally creeps out for exercise or amusement, and even 
after it has quitted this retreat it often returns to it for shelter on the least 
indication of danger. When they feed in herds of thirty and forty together, 
as they sometimes do, one of the herd is generally stationed as a guard at 
a distance from the rest. Their eyes are furnished with winking membranes, 
capable of being extended at pleasure over the ball. 
In the dense tropical forests of New Guinea and the north of Queensland 
are found tree-kangaroos; and it is evident that these are specially modified 
types which have taken to* this mode of life, and are in no way connected with 
the ancestral forms of the family. The tree-kangaroos are easily recognized 
by the general proportions of the two 1 pairs of limbs to the body being normal; 
the length of the front pair being only slightly less than that of the hinder. 
The tail is very long, and thickly furred. Comparatively little is known of 
any of the species in their native haunts; although it appears that they spend 
most of their time in the trees. Dr. Guillemard, who had two of these ani- 
