58 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY. 
Habits.—This new marsupial is nocturnal and arboreal. It is a 
powerful tree-climker, its strong fore-claws leave almost indelible 
marks on the trunks of the giant trees of the forest. During the 
day it sleeps in the trees, and feeds on the leaves. It is able to 
jump down from a great height, and can run fast on the ground. It 
lives almost exclusively in one very lofty kind of tree which is 
common on the coast mountains. During rainy weather the tree- 
kangaroo prefers the young low trees, and always frequents the 
most rocky and inaccessible localities. It always remains near the 
summit of the mountains, and frequently far from water, and hence 
the natives are of opinion that it never goes down for the purpose of 
drinking. During the hot season it is much bothered with flies, 
hence the blacks sometimes discover it from the sound of the blow 
by which it kills the fly. The blacks say that two or three are 
sometimes found sleeping in the same tree and that at night they 
can be heard moving in the trees, when they descend and run about 
on the ground just as common opossums do. 
How captured.—Without the aid of the blacks no collector has 
any chance of securing this rare mammal. It cost Lumholtz three 
months’ incessant work before he got his first specimen. The natives 
of the tribe he associated with never think of hunting without u 
dingo trained for this sport. Dingoes are scarcer in Northern 
Queensland than they are further south. Those which the natives 
employ are obtained from hollow trunks of trees when they are 
puppies. They are trained for kangaroo and other hunting, but as 
they seldom breed under restraint, they generally run away when 
they become old enough to pair, and never return. The chase 
begins early in the morning, while the scent of the boongary’s foot- 
prints is still fresh on the ground. The dog takes his time, stops 
now and then, and examines the ground carefully with his nose. 
His master keeps continually urging him on, and addresses him in 
language having the following meaning :—Smell boongary—smell 
him—smell—seize him by the legs—smart fellow—smell—smell 
him, &e. Ifthe dog finds the scent, he will pursue it to the tree 
which the animal has climbed. Then some of the natives climb the 
surrounding trees to keep it from escaping, while another person, 
armed with a stick, ascends the tree where the animal is, He either 
seizes the tree-kangaroo by the tail and crushes its head with the 
stick, or compels it to jump down, where the dingo stands ready, 
and kills it. With this tribe a good dingo is a necessary requisite 
for a chance of success; it is not easy to obtain such an adjunct, as 
each tribe possesses only one or two tame dingoes, which they will 
not readily part with ; besides a dingo follows his own master only, 
hence the services of both dog and black must be secured. This 
condition materially increased the difficulties of Lumholtz. He had 
to travel many miles to find a tribe that had a well-trained dingo ; 
then he had to propitiate the owner by allowing him to take meals 
with himself as long as he remained in that locality. In reference 
to another tribe, that hunts without » dingo, Mr EK. R. Waite 
says ;—‘‘ The animals are difficult to procure, as the blacks esteem 

