GIIEAT IlOCK KANGAROO. 
101 
ledges, that it is nearly useless to attempt its pursuit and 
capture with dogs. It is a formidable, and oven dangerous, 
animal to approach, for if so closely pressed tiiat it has no 
other chance of escape, it will rush at and force the invader 
over the edge of tho rocks, as the Ibex is said to do under 
similar circumstances. Independently of its great muscular 
power, this animal is rendered still more formidable by the 
manner in which it makes use of its teeth, biting its antagonist 
with great severity* 
The Macropus robust us, Mr. Gould further observes, “ may 
bo regarded as a gregarious animal, four, six, and even more, 
individuals being frequently seen in company. On one of 
the mountains near Turi, to the eastward of the Liverpool 
Plains, it was very numerous; and from the nature of tills 
and the other localities in which I observed it, must possess 
the power of existing for long periods without water, that 
clement being rarely met with in such situations. The 
summits of the hills to which this species resorts soon 
become intersected by numerous roads and well-trodden 
tracks, caused by its repeatedly traversing from one part to 
the other: its food consists of grasses, and tho shoots and 
leaves of the low scrubby trees which clothe tho hills it 
frequents. 
“ Although much shorter in stature, and consequently 
less elegant in form, the fully adult male M. robust tts equals 
in weight the largest specimens of Macropus gig aniens; and 
so remarkable is the difference in the colour and size of the 
sexes, that had I not seen them together in a state of 
nature, I should have considered them to be different species, 
the black and powerful male offering so great a contrast to 
the small and delicate female.” 
The Macropus robust us, as compared with the Great Kan¬ 
garoo (Macropus giga ulcus ), differs in having the tarsi 
shorter, and the fore legs larger and more powerful; the fur is 
