TASMANIAN TIGER. 33 
amongst caverns and rocks in the deep and almost impenetrable 
glens in the vicinity of the highest mountains in Tasmania. In the 
daytime it is inactive and stupid. Like the owl, it constantly keeps 
the nictitant membrane of the eye in motion. It is sometimes seen 
during the day, upon which occasions, perhaps from imperfect 
vision, its pace is somewhat slow. It inhabits the summits of the 
western mountains, the altitude of some of which is about 3500ft. 
There, occasionally, snow falls for some months of the year, and 
frosts are severe. ‘lhe number of youngis four at a litter ; four have 
been found in the female’s pouch. In confinement it is extremely 
shy, and on being alarmed dashes and leaps about its cage in the 
most violent manner, and utters at the same time a short, guttural 
cry, resembling a bark. When the comparatively small island of 
Tasmania becomes more densely populated, and its forests are inter- 
sected with roads from the east to the west coast, the numbers of 
this singular animal will speedily diminish, and extermination will 
have its full sway. Neither the shepherd nor the farmer can be 
blamed for wishing to rid the island of so troublesome a creature 
A price is put upon the head of the native tiger, as it is called, but 
the fastness of the Tasmanian rocky gullies, clothed with impene- 
trable forests, will for the present preserve it from annihilation—the 
fate of the wolves in England and Scotland. It is known to be still 
in existence, as hawkers of skins frequently offer skins of these 
animals for sale in Hobart. It sometimes attains so large and 
formidable a size that a number of dogs will not face it. The 
Tasmanian tiger is sometimes caught by a wire snare, in the form of 
a noose, which is fixed above its track at such a height as to take the 
animal’s head when passing. One that was sent to the Zoological 
Gardens, Sydney, had been so cut about the neck in its struggles to 
escape that there seemed but little chance of its recovery. Several 
years ago Dr. Grant and Mr. Gunn, of Launceston, forwarded a fine 
pair to England in the barque ‘‘ Stirlingshire.” This was a valuable 
and interesting gift, which added one of the rarest and most difficult 
forms to the series of marsupials exhibited in the Zoological Gardens, 
London. They had been caught in snares on the upper part of St. 
Patrick’s River, about 30 miles noth-east of Launceston. The 
female was kept a month in a small unfinished house near where she 
was captured. She was exceedingly agile, and could spring from 
the floor to the top of the walls, six to eight feet, and from joist to 
joist near the roof with the activity of a cat. Mr. Gunn says :—‘‘ IT 
have had the female in confinement for upwards of six months. She 
has become sufficiently tame to permit the head to be touched through 
the bars of her prison, without showing any anger orirritation.” Dr. 
Grant areata the male which had been in captivity only a month 
prior to the voyage. On board the vessel in’ which the animals were 
shipped twelve fat sheep were put as sea stores for the thylacines, 
ard hay for the sustenance of the sheep. They had been fed 
exclusively on mutton before the voyage, and preferred the rhatee 
containing the bones rather than the heart, liver, &c. These 
marsupial wolves attracted great attention in London, and the male 
survived for about four years, 
