60 
MACROrODID.*:. 
ridges which the Kangaroo invariably endeavours to gain, 
giving him great advantage over his pursuers. On such 
grounds the females in particular will frequently outstrip the 
fleetest greyhound, while, on the contrary, heavy old males, 
on soft ground, are easily overtaken. Many of these fine 
Kangaroo-dogs are kept at the stock stations of the interior, 
for the sole purpose of running the Kangaroo and the Emu, 
the latter being killed solely for the supply of oil which it 
yields, and the former for mere sport, or for food for the 
dogs. Although I have killed the largest males with a single 
dog, it is not generally advisable to attempt this, as they 
possess great power, and frequently rip up the dogs, and 
sometimes even cut them to the heart with a single stroke of 
the hind leg. Three or four dogs are more generally laid on; 
one of superior fleetness to f pull * the Kangaroo, while the 
others rush in upon and kill it. It sometimes adopts a sin¬ 
gular mode of defending itself, by clasping its short, powerful 
fore-limbs around its antagonist, leaping away with it to the 
nearest water-hole, and there keeping it beneath the water 
until drowned: with dogs the old males will do tliis whenever 
they have an opportunity; and it is said, that they will also 
attempt to do the same with man. In Van Diemen’s Land 
the. Macropus yigantem also forms an object of chaee, 
and, like the Deer and Fox of England, is hunted with 
hounds.*' 
Like other auiinals whose forms differ considerably from 
those with which our eye is familiar, the Kangaroo, when 
first beheld, does not strike us as having agreeable propor¬ 
tions, and its movements appear awkward, especially when 
tlio animal is browsing, at which time it rests upon its four 
legs; requiring then to move but short distances, the body is 
outstretched, and the hinder parts, assisted by the tail, are 
suddenly brought close to the anterior extremities, and this 
