86 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY. 
and Germany for glove and bootmaking purposes resulted in loss td 
the exporters, because the value of the skins was not then under- 
stood. At the present time the best skins are worth more than live 
sheep in full wool. The only part of the flesh that is used 
occasionally by Europeans is the tail, from which a fine soup is pro- 
duced. Sportsmen hunt this animal just as deer are hunted in 
England. Near Kelso, in Aug, 1892, two sportsmen shot 42 in 
three hours with sporting rifles. One was a very peculiar specimen, 
being a piebald ; its skin was preserved, it being conjectured that 
it was the only one of the kind in the colony. Dr. Shaw, writing 
so soon after the occupation as 1800, observes :—‘‘The kangaroo 
may now be considered as in a great degree naturalised in England, 
several having been kept for some years in the royal domain at 
Richmond, which have during their residence there produced 
young.” The following is a description of a hunt in Central Queens- 
land :—‘‘ There were several of us in the company, all on horseback. 
Towards sunset we set out, for the animals at that time go out to 
* feed, and it was not long before we caught sight of one of them. Our 
dogs, which were all fine kangaroo hounds, were now let loose, and 
we galloped after them as fast as our horses could carry us. ‘The 
kangaroo jumps as fast as a horse gallops, but usually it gets tired 
soon, especially if it isan ‘old man,’ as the colonists call an aged 
male. He then places himself with his back against the trunk of a 
tree and seeks to protect himself from the dogs to the last. Woe be 
to the dog that comes within reach of his paws. He seizes it with 
his arms, and rips its abdomen open with the long and strong central 
claws of the hind feet. Trained dogs take good care not to go too 
near. Sometimes the kangaroo takes refuge in a pool of water, and, 
if a dog is too intrusive, the kangaroo instinctively ducks it under 
the water and holds it there tillit is dead. The hunt proceeded as 
rapidly as our fast horses could gallop, but it did not take long 
before the kangaroo turned on the dogs in the manner 1 have 
described. One of the huntsmen came up, dismounted, and one or 
two powerful blows from his club put an end to the animal. We 
killed six of them in this manner” (Lumholtz), During the visit of 
the Archduke of Austro-Hungary, in 1893, he was accompanied by 
the Hon. F. B. Suttor to Mr. Mack's property, near Narramine, on 
which the distinguished visitor took part in a kangaroo hunt. Grey- 
hounds were provided from Bathurst, and 20 horsemen were pre- 
sent to drive the game. A number of kangaroos were shot, and 
others were caught by the dogs. At the first drive his Imperial 
Highness succeeded in shooting, with great rapidity, five kangaroos, — 
Food.—It browses upon various kinds of grasses, herbs, and 
low shrubs, a kind of food which renders its flesh well-tasted and 
nutritive. ‘The early dawn and evening are the periods at which it 
feeds. 
Where found.—The country which appears most suitable to its 
nature consists of low grassy hills and plains, skirted by thin open 
forests of brushwood. As the kangaroo in Western Australia 
(Macropus ocydromus) is merely a local variety, its range is all 
