372 
Miscellanea . 
variably turns round and faces his pursuers, erecting himself to 
his full height, if possible with his back against a tree, and thus 
awaits the rush of the dogs, endeavouring to strike them with his 
powerful hind-toe, or catching them in his fore-arms, and while 
thus holding them, inflicting dreadful and often fatal wounds with 
his foot. Old dogs well broken in, and accustomed to hunting 
the Boomer, will keep him at bay by their barking till the hunter 
comes up, who is generally furnished with a short heavy stick, 
and with a blow or two on the head brings the animal down. 
Even the hunter often runs a hazard, for a Boomer will frequently 
on the approach of man, leave the dogs and attack his new op¬ 
ponent most fiercely ; and at times it is no easy matter to avoid 
being severely cut in attempting to kill it. When closely pur¬ 
sued it takes to the water, and as the dogs approach catches 
them in its arms and holds them under him till drowned. If the 
water be too shallow for drowning them, it has been known to 
catch one dog and place it beneath its feet, while courageously 
waiting the approach of a second. The swiftest runner is the 
female of the first year before having young, and of the second 
year with her first young; at this age her speed is so great, that 
she is termed the ‘ Flying Doe*; if she obtains anything like a 
fair start, she will give the fleetest dogs a long and severe run, 
and will frequently succeed in outstripping them; upon finding 
herself too closely pressed, she attempts to evade the dogs by 
making a sudden leap, almost at a right angle with her course, 
and the dogs, not unfrequently when very close to her, and at 
full speed, bound past her to such a distance, that by the time 
they regain the track, the kangaroo has gained so much ground 
as to get fairly away; but this stratagem often accelerates her 
death, for in turning off so suddenly the whole weight is thrown 
upon one limb; the leg is consequently broken, the animal falls, 
and the next moment becomes an easy prey. Even large bucks 
are sometimes taken in this way: in their flight and anxiety to 
escape the dogs, they often run against a stump or a tree with 
such violence as to be killed on the spot. 
“ It would scarcely be supposed, from seeing this animal in con¬ 
finement, where it appears so quiet and harmless, that it can be 
