Miscellanea. 
373 
excited to rage and ferocity; yet such is the case in a state of 
nature. Upon finding itself without a chance of escape, it sum¬ 
mons up all its energies for a last struggle, and would often come 
off victor if it had dogs alone to contend with. The moment it 
sees the approach of man, it appears to know instinctively that 
he is its most formidable opponent; its lips are then curved and 
contracted; its eyes sparkle with rage, and seem ready to start 
from their sockets ; its ears are in rapid and constant motion, and 
it utters its peculiar though not loud voice—a sort of smothered 
grunt, half hiss or hard breathing; its attention is totally with¬ 
drawn from the dogs to its new enemy; regardless of their rush, 
it loses its former advantage; and the dogs having once fairly 
got hold, the animal is easily brought down. 
“ If a female with a tolerably large young one in the pouch be 
pursued, she will often, by a sudden jerk, throw the little creature 
out; whether this is done for her own protection, or for the pur¬ 
pose of misleading the dogs, has been debated by hunters; I am 
inclined to think the former is the case, for I have observed that 
the dogs pass on without noticing the young one, which in gene¬ 
ral crouches in a tuft of grass, or hides itself among the scrub 
without attempting to run or make its escape : the mother, if 
she eludes her pursuers, doubtless returns for her offspring. 
“The kangaroos inhabiting the forests are invariably much 
darker and have a thicker coat than those of the plains; the 
young are at first of a very light fawn-colour, and get darker 
until two years old ; from this age they again become lighter in 
colour, and the old males become of a very light grey ; the coat, 
as already mentioned, being in the summer thin and hairy, and 
in the winter of a more woolly character. It is no unusual occur¬ 
rence to find them with white marks on the head, particularly a 
white spot between the eyes or on the forehead ; in one instance 
I observed the whole of the throat, cheeks, and upper part of 
the head spotted with yellowish white, Albinoes have been fre¬ 
quently met with. The largest and heaviest kangaroo of this 
species, of which I have any authentic account, was killed at the 
Murray, and weighed I601bs.”* 
* The head, feet, and fore-arms were exhibited. 
