Derby's kangaroo. 
165 
Far long and moderately soft; grey, indistinctly tinted with rust 
colour; back of the neck, hinder part of hack near the root 
of the tail, the ba.se of the tail, and the limbs, rusty red; 
under parts of the body dirty white, slightly washed, as it 
were, with rusty yellow ; fore feet and tarsi pale rust colour, 
very finely pencilled with blackish in front: tail clothed with 
short hairs, grey above, and dirty white beneath; a broad, 
but not strongly defined, black mark, extends from the 
occiput along the back of the neck. 
Inhabits Western and South-western Australia. 
The original of Mr. Gray’s description was said to be from 
Swan River; it lived for some time in the Earl of Derby's 
Menagerie, and when it died was presented by his lordship to 
the Museum of the Zoological Society. Subsequently, a 
living specimen was presented to the same Society, by its 
active corresponding member, the late T. B. Harvey, Esq., 
and specimens lmve been procured from islands on the West 
Coast of Australia by Mr. Gould. This gentleman, who has 
takeu much paius in ascertaining the true habits of the 
various species of Marsupial animals, is of opinion that die 
M. Dcrhiamts is indeed strictly confined to the islands of 
the West coast, and states that it is found in Kangaroo 
Island; he had moreover seen the skin of an animal apparently 
identical with the present species, which he was informed 
inhabited Rottness and Garden Island. These islands are 
often covered with dwarf Eucalypti, forming wlmt are called 
" scrubs," which, as Mr. Gould observes, afford a secure 
asylum for the small Wallabys. In these scrubs they form 
runs; and such is the dense nature of the vegetation, Unit 
nothing larger than a dog can follow them; still the residents 
in these islands procure them in great abundance, principally 
by snares, a simple noose being placed at the entrance of the 
runs; they are sought both for their flesh, winch is well 
flavoured, and for their skins. 
