THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. ~— thaya) 
been very much upset by introduction of foreign pre- 
daceous animals, such as the cat and the fox, and also 
by settlement. The animals mentioned are making a 
clean sweep of our small ground fauna, most of which 
have quite disappeared from districts where they were 
once numerous. 
This especially refers to the Native Cat and the Rat 
Kangaroos, but.it is interesting to note that the Native 
Cat and one of the Bandicoots are numerous round Syd- 
‘ney, and from this it would seem that the Fox is their 
especial enemy. 
The clearing of the land kills off the native animal 
inhabitants, but has the effect of concentrating the pre- 
daceous birds in the timber belts, and the inhabitants 
thereof have a much harder struggle for existence. Re- 
cently while visiting the Riverina I noticed that Boo- 
book Owls were very numerous in the groups of trees 
left, for stock shelter. . 
It is pleasing to note how quickly cur animals re- 
spond to protection. On Wilson’s Promontory, in Vic- 
toria, which is reserved as a National Park, and closely 
guarded, the Native Bear (/foala) is almost too numerous 
and is eating out the eucalyptus; while on our western 
plains, where the kangaroos are not hunted, they become 
very plentiful, and have periodically to be killed off. In 
the park lands round Sydney Harbour, Bandicoots (Pera- 
melidue) are in hundreds. Our animals show variations 
in colour, according to environment. The coastal districts 
preduce gray or black individuals; in the dense scrubs 
of the eastern coast, and the sombre forests of South-West 
Australia, the opossums are black, in the open forests they 
ave gray, and in the dryer districts show more or less 
brown colouration, ranging from a rufous tint on the 
shoulders to a dark, even, rufous all over; in north-east- 
ern Queensland the colour is sometimes bright foxy-red. 
with a white breast. In the Red Kangaroo of east-cen- 
tral Australia, the males are red and the females grey 
(though not invariably); but in Central and Western 
Australia this is often reversed, especially in the white- 
throated variety (Macropus occidentalis). All our larger 
marsupials are very prone to albinoism, and the white . 
specimens breed true. A group of white kangaroos was 
established in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens. Several 
