THE KANGAROOS.

The typical and most familiar member of the Marsupial Order is the KANGAROO—the heraldic mammal of that vast island-continent in the South Seas, whose phenomenal advance by leaps and bounds, from what scarcely a century since was represented by but a few isolated settlements, has been aptly likened to the characteristic progression of this animal. Of kangaroos proper there are some twenty-four known species distributed throughout the length and breadth of Australia, extending southwards to Tasmania, and to the north as far as New Guinea and a few other adjacent islands.

In point of size the GREAT GREY KANGAROO and the RED or WOOLLY species run each other very closely. A full-grown male of either species will weigh as much as 200 lbs., and measure a little over 5 feet from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, this latter important member monopolising another 4 or 4½ feet. The red or woolly species more especially affects the rocky districts of South and East Australia, while the great grey kind is essentially a plain-dweller and widely distributed throughout the grassy plains of the entire Australian Continent and also Tasmania. It is to the big males of this species that the titles of “Boomer,” “ Forester,” and “Old Man Kangaroos” are commonly applied by the settlers, and the species with which the popular and exciting sport of a kangaroo hunt—the Antipodean substitute for fox-hunting—is associated. The pace and staying power of an old man kangaroo are something phenomenal. Our home country fox-hounds would have no chance with it; consequently a breed of rough-haired greyhounds, known as kangaroo-dogs, are specially trained

Photo by D. Le Souef] [Melbourne.

ALBINO RED KANGAROOS.

Albino kangaroos and other Australian animals have been observed to be the product of special, narrowly limited locations.

Marsupials and Monotremes 347 for this sport. A run of eighteen miles, with a swim of two in the sea at the finish, and all within the space of two brief crowded hours, is one of the interesting records chronicled. The quarry, when brought to bay, is, moreover, a by no means despicable foe. Erect on its haunches, with its back against a tree, the dogs approach it at their peril, as, with a stroke of its powerful spur-armed hind foot, it will with facility disembowel or otherwise fatally maim its assailant. Another favourite refuge of the hunted " boomer " is a shallow water-hole, wherein, wading waist-deep, it calmly awaits its pursuers' onslaught. On the dogs swimming out to the attack, it will seize them with its hand-like fore paws, thrust them under water, and, if their rescue is not speedily effected, literally drown them. Even man, without the aid of firearms, is liable to be worsted in an encounter under these conditions, as is evidenced in the following anecdote.

A newly arrived settler from the old country, or more precisely from the sister island, ignorant of the strength and prowess of the wily marsupial, essayed his maiden kangaroo hunt with only a single dog as company. A fine grey boomer was in due course started, and after an exciting chase was cornered in a water-hole. The dog, rushing after it, was promptly seized and ducked; and Pat, irate at the threatened drowning of his companion, fired, but missed his quarry, and thereupon jumped into the water-hole, with the intention, as he afterwards avowed, " to bate the brains out of the baste " with the butt-end of his gun. The kangaroo, however, very soon turned the tables upon Pat. Before he had time to realise the seriousness of the situation he found himself lifted off his feet, and soused and hustled with such vigour that. both Pat and his dog most narrowly escaped a watery grave. A couple of neighbours, by good luck passing that way, observed the turmoil, and came to the rescue.

Photo by W. Reid] [Wishaic, N.B.

TASMANIAN WALLABY.

Has softer and thicker fur than its relative of the Australian mainland.

of the World348 The Living Animals Between them they beat off and killed the kangaroo, and dragged Pat to land in a half-drowned and almost insensible condition. Pat recovered, and vowed "niver to meddle with " such big bastes again. less staying power than The doe kangaroos, while of smaller size and possessing much their mates, can nevertheless afford a good run for horses and dogs, arid are commonly known as "flyers." When carrying a youngster, or "Joey," in her pouch, and hard pressed by the dogs, it is a common thing for the parent to abstract her offspring from the pouch with her fore paws, and to throw it aside into the bush. The instinct of self-preservation only, by the discharge of hampering impedimenta, is usually ascribed to this act; but it is an open feelingquestion whether the maternal one of securing a chance of escape for her young, while powerless to accomplish it for herself, does not more often represent the actual condition of the case. In proportion to the size of its body the kangaroo yields but a limited amount of meat that is esteemed for food. The tail represents the most highly appreciated portion, since from it can be compounded a soup not only equal to ordinary ox-tail, but by gourmands considered so superior that its conservation and export have proved a successful trade enterprise. The loins also are much esteemed for the table, but the hind limbs are hard and coarse, and only appreciated by the native when " 'r rations are abnormally short. Steamer, composed of kangaroo-flesh mixed with slices of ham, represented a standing and very popular dish with the earlier Australian settlers; but with the rapid disappearance of the animal before the advance of colonisation this one time common concoction possesses at the present day a greater traditional than actual reputation. is con- The hunting of the kangaroo ducted on several distinct lines, the method of its pursuit being varied, according to whether the animal is required for the

Photo by D. Le Souef] [Melbourne. primary object of food, for the commercial ALBINO RED-BELLIED WALLABY. value of its skin, as a matter of pure Many of the Marsupials, including Kangaroos and the Opossum-like Sport, Or to accomplish its wholesale destrUCtion in consequence of its encroachments on the pasturage required for sheep- and cattle-grazing.

The greatest measure of healthy excitement in hunting the kangaroo, from the standpoint of pure sport, is no doubt to be obtained when running the marsupial down with horse and hounds in congenial company, as referred to on a previous page. The stalking of the animal single-handed on horseback or on foot, much after the manner of the deer, has also its enthusiastic votaries, and calls into play the greatest amount of patience and savoir-faire on kill kangaroos the part of the sportsman. It has been affirmed by a Queensland writer, "To with a stalking-horse requires the practice of a lifetime, and few ' new chums ' have the patience to learn it. It is, in fact, only stockmen, black-fellows, and natives of the bush who is successfully can by this method expect to make kangaroo-shooting pay." The horse which is specially trained to its work, andy employed by experienced bushmen for stalking purposes walking apparently unconcernedly in the direction of the selected quarry, brings the gunners, if they are experts in the art of keeping themselves well concealed, within easy range. In this manner two or three kangaroos are not infrequently shot in the same stalk, the animals having a tendency, on hearing the report of the gun, but not locating the direction from which

Photo by Billington] [Queensland.

ROCK-WALLABY.

The Rock-Wallabies, in contradistinction to the Kangaroos, are for the most part nocturnal in their habits.

349

it was discharged, to rush about in an aimless manner, and, as frequently happens, in the immediate direction of the hidden sportsman. In the good old times it is recorded that an experienced hand might kill as many as seventy or eighty kangaroos in a day by this stalking method. The marsupials are at the present date, however, so severely deci-mated that even in the most favourable settled districts a bag of from twelve to twenty head must be regarded as exceptional. Stalking the kangaroo on foot without the horse's aid is more strongly recommended to those to whom an occasional shot is

Photo by D. Le Souef] considered sufficiently remunera- PARRY'S WALLABY. tive. Taking full advantage of In attitude of listening. intervening bushes and other indigenous cover, an approach to within a hundred yards or so of the quarry may be usually accomplished, though not quite so easily, perhaps, as might be at first anticipated". It is the habit of the kangaroo to sit up waist-high in the midst of the sun-bleached grass, which corresponds so closely in colour with its own hide that unless the animal is silhouetted against the sky-line it readily escapes detection. The conditions under which the kangaroo is obtained for the main purpose of supplying the human commissariat is perhaps most aptly illustrated in connection with its chase as prosecuted by the Australian aborigines. In Tasmania and the Southern Australian States the primeval man is either extinct or more rare than the kangaroo. In the extreme north and far northwest, however, he still poses as "the lord of creation," and conducts his hunting expeditions on a lordly scale. of theThe food-supply Australian native is essentially precarious. Long intervals of " short commons " are interspersed with brief periods of over-abundance, in which he indulges his appetite to its fullest bent. A kangaroo drive on native Photo by D. Lc Soucf] [Melbourne. lines represents to the PARRY'S WALLABY. Australian, mind One Of these Characteristic feedi.g attitude.

Marsupials and Monotremes 351

last-named superlatively memorable occasions. The entire tribe, men, women, and all capable youths, participate in the sport. Fires are lit by one section of the tribe, according to the direction of the wind, encircling a vast area of the country, while the other section posts itself in detach-ments in advantageous positions to intercept the terrified marsupials as they fly in the presumed direction of safety to escape the devouring element. Spears and waddies and boomerangs, in the hands of the expert natives, speedily accomplish a scene of carnage, and the after feast that follows may perhaps be best left to the imagination of the reader. The encroachments of neighbouring natives on the happy hunting-grounds that time and custom have conceded to be the sole monopoly of any one particular tribe is most strenuously resented, and constitute one of the commonest sources of their well-nigh perpetual intertribal battles.

A kangaroo battue, as carried into practice by European settlers in those few remaining districts where the animal is sufficiently abundant to constitute a pest by its wholesale consumption of the much-prized pasturage, is far more deadly in its results to the unfortunate marsupials. Existing sheep-fences, supplemented by a large suitably enclosed yard, are first specially prepared for the reception of the expected victims. All the settlers, stockmen, and farm hands from the country round are pressed inlo service, and assemble on horseback or on foot at the appointed rendezvous at break of day. A widely spreading cordon of beaters being told off, a systematic drive is then commenced, which results in all the animals being driven by 1). Le Souef, Melbourne.towards and collected within the enclosed yard. The cul- I'kolo minating scene is one of wholesale slaughter with club and FOOT OP TREE-KANGAROO. and skin-corrugations peculiar third toes. second andgun. From these battues none of the unfortunate animals Underside,theshowingunited escape, as they are so closely hemmed in. its characteristic name, is The first record of the existence of the kangaroo, coupled with found associated, it is interesting to observe, with the history of one of the earlier voyages of Captain Cook. The neighbourhood of Cooktown, in Queensland, claims the honour of supplying the first example of the animal which was brought to Europe and astonished the zoologists of that time by the singularity of its form and reported habits. Captain Cook happened in July, 1770 to be laying up his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs, after narrowly escaping total wreck on the neighbouring Great Barrier Reef, in the estuary of the river subsequently coupled with his ship's name. Foraging parties, dispatched with the object of securing, if possible, fresh meat or game for the replenishment of the ship's well-nigh exhausted larder, returned with reports of a strange creature, of which they subsequently secured specimens. Skins were preserved and brought to England, but it was some little time before the zoological position and affinities of the creature were correctly allocated. By some naturalists it was regarded as representing a huge species of Jerboa, its near relationship to the previously known American Opossums being, however, eventually substantiated. The closer acquaintanceship with the peculiar fauna of Australia that followed upon Captain Cook's memorable voyage of discovery along the coast-line of that island-continent soon familiarised naturalists with many other of the allied species of which the kangaroo constitutes the leading representative.

Page 81 of 89