The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

Both the banded and other species of bandicoots are extremely swift and active in their movements, and are at the same time noted for the singularity of their gait. This consists of a half-running and half-jumping action, induced by the peculiar structure of their feet and greater length of the hind legs, which are modified on a plan intermediate between that of the kangaroos and the dasyures, or native cats. The back of the animal while running being highly arched, adds to the grotesqueness of its appearance. Like the native cats, the pouch in the bandicoots opens backwards; it is furnished with eight teats, but not more than two young are usually produced at a birth.

is- The striped-backed bandicoot not infrequently adopted as a household pet, in spite of its notorious garden depredations. When thus domesticated, it appears to be capable of developing a strong attachment for its owner. One that was owned by friends of the writer especially attached

Photo by W. SavMe-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Hta. itself to the lady of the house. It was- LOXG-XOSED AUSTRALIAN BANDICOOT. acquired when quite young, having

Bandicoots, although larger, have somewhat the appearance of shrews. escaped from the pouch of an adult

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female which the dogs had killed, and being then about the size of a mouse. It speedily learned to lap milk, and throve on a diet of bread and raw potato. As it grew larger it was allowed the run of the house, and also of the garden, but habitually returned to the sleeping-quarters selected by itself, and represented by the woolly depths of its mistress's work-basket. In this haven of rest it slept all day, scolding and snapping at any intruding hand. Towards dusk it would waken up and bustle about in a most energetic manner, with the air, in fact, of having an immense amount of business to transact within Photo by IF'. Samlle-Kent, F.Z.S.~] _Milford-on-Sea, the very shortest limits of time. Its RABBIT-BANDICOOT. first dart was always towards a corner The largest of the bandicoots; about the sizt of a rabbit. where a supper of bread-and-inilk and potato was usually placed. This meal discussed, its evening's occupation commenced of scampering around the room and over every accessible article of furniture. Nor was it shy of climbing up and resting for a few seconds on the shoulders of its human friends, being always, however, in too great a hurry to prolong the visit. Finally, as with all pets, "Coota," as he was familiarly named, came to an untimely end not a cat, however, on this occasion, but, if rumour whispers true, through over-indulgence in a too liberally furnished meal of custard pudding. The flesh of this and other species of bandicoots is esteemed for food both by the natives and the white settlers in Australia. It is noteworthy of the banded variety, more especially, that the skin adheres so tightly to the flesh that its removal is a matter of some considerable as much as 18 inches in total length,difficulty. When full grown, this species measures it provides forand is little inferior to a rabbit with regard to the amount of good meat the larder.

THE POUCHED MOLE.

A still more essentially insectivorous marsupial is represented by the little mammal discovered only a few years since in the wild sandy wastes of Central Australia. In form and habits it so nearly resembles the familiar European mole that the title of the POUCHED it. At the same time, with regard to its remarkableMOLE has been very suitably given to first organisation, it constitutes the sole representative of its peculiar family group. The suspicions of the existence of this singular little animal were raised by the observation of peculiar sinuous three-lined tracks at irregular intervals on the surface of the sandy regions it inhabits. After a long quest, with the aid of the aborigines, the first specimen was discovered reposing under a tuft of coarse porcupine-grass. A further investigation elicited the fact that less pronounced than those of the ordinary moles, the its burrowing proclivities were much little creature progressing alternately over the surface of the sand, and then ploughing its way, for several feet or yards, two or three inches only beneath the surface. All efforts to preserve examples of this marsupial alive for longer periods than three or four days its proved abortive: for though the remains of ants and other insects were found within it. In fact, the viscera, it refused to feed upon the living supplies that were provided for animal itself apparently ran the greater risk of being eaten.

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• The colour of the pouched r mole is for the most part light fawn, varying in parts to golden yellow. One of its most conspicuous features, as illustrated in the accompanying photographs, is the abnormal size of the third and fourth toes of the fore limbs, their peculiar scoop-like character proving of eminent service to the animal in its customary sand-burrowing habits.

THE TASMANIAN WOLF.

The remaining family of the Australian marsupials constitutes a parallel to the I'/ioto by A. S. Jtudland ifc Sons. carnivorous order of the higher POUCHED MOLE. mammalia, all its members This animal is of a pale golden-red colour, and about 5 inches long. It spends most of its time burrowing, which it can do with great rapidity, in the sand of the Australian deserts in being more or less flesh-search of insects. eaters, and having their dentition modified with relation to such habits. One of these (the TASMANIAN WOLF, or TIGER of the colonists, is an animal better known to zoologists as the THYLACINE) of considerable size. Its dimensions equal those of a wolf or mastiff, with which the contour of its body and more especially that of the head very nearly correspond. In common with the true dogs, the thylacine hunts its prey by scent. This is well attested to by the following incident, as related by eye-witnesses. While camping out among the hills in Tasmania their attention was attracted very early one morning by a brush-kangaroo hopping past their fire in an evidently highly excited state. Some ten minutes later up cantered a she thylacine with her nose down exactly on the track, evidently following the scent, and in another quarter of an hour her two cubs came by also in the precise track. While not very swift, the Tasmanian " " tigers possess immense staying power, and will keep up a long, steady canter for many hours on end. Accustomed in its primitive state to run down and prey upon the kangaroos, wallabies, and other weaker marsupial mammals indigenous to the regions it inhabits, the Tasmanian wolf speedily acquired a predilection for the imported flocks of the settlers, and proved almost as destructive to them as its Old World namesake. To check its ravages, a price was put upon its head by the Tasmanian Government; Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S., MdJord-on-Sea. and this measure, in conjunction with the rapid advances UNDER SURFACE OP POUCHED MOLE. towards the complete settlement of the country which Notice the size abnormal of the third and toes of the fore fourth have been accomplished within later years, has compassed their limbs, and peculiar scoop-Jike tape. this animal's extermination in all but the wildest and

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most inaccessible mountain districts. The colour-markings of this animal are somewhat striking, the grey-brown tints which characterise the ground-hues of the body and limbs being varied by a series of dark bands traversing the buttocks, these being widest in this region, and continued forwards to the middle of the back. A somewhat similar cross-stripe pattern of ornamentation occurs in the relatively small member of the same family described later on as the Banded Ant-eater.

Examples of the Tasmanian wolf have frequently been on view at the Eegent's Park Gardens, a very fine young male specimen being at present located in the marsupial section. Within a few weeks of its arrival it was on excellent terms with its keeper, though, owing to its somewhat imperfect sense of vision during the daytime, it was apt to snap somewhat promiscuously at those attempting to cultivate its close ac- Photo ly L. M&tland, F.Z.S., SorthFlnchley. quaintanceship. That a bite from its formidable teeth is not TASMANIAN WOLF. to be lightly risked will be made abundantly apparent by a This photographgape of thisshowsferociousthe animal.great width of glance at the successful yawning pose photograph secured of this example by Mr. Medland, and here reproduced. Although the thylacine is at the present time entirely limited in its distribution to Tasmania, it occurs in the fossil state on the Australian mainland; while, singularly to relate, the remains of a closely allied form have within recent years been unearthed in Patagonia. This circumstance, taken in conjunc-affinitiestion with the fact that many other fossil types with Australian and New Zealand have been discovered in the same South American strata, has strengthened the supposition maintained by many zoologists that in bygone ages a vast Antarctic continent, spreading; through the areas now occupied by the Southern Indian and Pacific Oceans, temporarily united" the now distinct lands of South America and Australasia.

THE TASMANIAN DEVIL.

Next in size to the thylacine, but possessing a more unenviable notoriety for the uncompromising sulkiness and savagery of its disposition, is the animal which, in virtue of the aforesaid qualities, is title of theknown by the TASMANIAN DEVIL. In shape and dimensions this marsupial carnivore somewhat resembles a badger; but the head is abnormally large, the masseter muscles which control the action of the powerful jaws monopolising a very considerable share of the face area. The limbs are short and also very powerful, the front paws being well adapted to its burrowing habits. There is some slight3 variation in the Pliotoby L. Medland, F.Z.S.} [Sorth FinchUy. colours of this marsupial TASMANIA* WOLF. In this photograph are shown nearly all the chief characteristic points of the Tasmanian wolf.- and, aS the

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aphorism runs concerning his sable namesake, he is not always so black as he is painted. More or less or in fact mostly black he always is, but there is usually a redeeming thread or patch of white upon his coat. This may take the form of a small star-like spot only on the front of its chest, which not infrequently extends to a narrow crescent-shaped band or line continued round the neck almost to the shoulders. One or more supplementary spots of white may also be

Photo by York & Son [Notting Hill. developed upon the flanks

TASMANIAN DEVIL.

and hindquarters. A small, but stout and powerful animal, very destructive, and absolutely untamable. The destructive pro-pensities of the Tasmanian devil, wherein the farmers' sheep and poultry are concerned, are in no way inferior to those of the Tasmanian wolf, and in consequence of their former much greater abundance the havoc these animals committed was the more serious. Placed, like the last-named type, under Government ban, these native devils have, in comparison with the earlier days of colonisation, very considerably ceased from troubling, and with the ever-progressing march of settlement and -civilisation will probably be altogether exterminated at a no very distant date. A bag of no less than 150 of these marauders, in the course of one winter, was recorded from an upland it has beensheep-station some twenty or thirty years ago. In common with the thylacine, observed that the Tasmanian devil has a marked predilection for prowling along the seashore in search apparently of crabs, fish, or any acceptable flotsam and jetsam that may be cast up by the waves. alive on several occasions Examples of this most unamiable of mammals were brought in all cases obstinatelyto the Hobart Museum during the writer's residence in Tasmania, but in resisted every attempt towards the establishment of a friendly footing. Their ultimate relegation to the specimen-cases was, under the circumstances, unattended by any very poignant manifestations of regret. A fact brought into prominent notice during subsequent post-mortem investigations was the extraordinary extent to which these animals are infested with vermin. Possibly this circumstance is to a considerable extent accountable for the creature's unconquerable irritability. The experiment as to whether a course of disinfecting treatment, by baths or otherwise, would not conduce towards the taming of this native devil, where all other applied methods have failed, would at all events be worth the trial. The bath pure is for unruly tempers. As most schoolboys know, a pail ofand simple & wonderful soporific is apparently inevitable, iswater, from which the patient is withdrawn when a watery grave an unfailing specific for the taming of mice and other "small deer." The writer's experience with a villainously savage cat which one night fell incontinently into an uncovered cistern, and was rescued by him at almost the last gasp, will not be readily forgotten. That cat, though still a vixen to the ordinary members of the household, forthwith attached itself affectionately to its rescuer, and would sit for hours awaiting his arrival on the doorstep when the business of the day was over. Other fierce creatures, including the Tasmanian devil, would possibly prove amenable to the judicious application of the " water cure."