easily become victims to the
J hich the animals are.so terrified and confused, that they easily become vic the
Dy \ay ich the c c ‘
h are directed
Aborigine may have
superior knowledge enable

with shouts and yells,
bommerengs, clubs and spears whic

Still, however formidable an enemy the
he white man, whose

against them from all sides. |
’ been, the Great Grey Kangaroo finds, at the present time,

s him to employ, for its destruction, much more
i ic 2 y > oun, he brings

of the more simple son of nature. Independently of the gun, rings to

that the timid kangaroo has but little chance when opposed

yhound and deerhound, and from

a far greater one in t
efficient weapons and assailants than those
is al > anerior breed, and of so savage a nature,

aid dogs of superior breed, a es oo
ae , ely by sight, partake of the nature of the gre
‘ell adapted for the duties to which they are trained, that its escape, when
ample, the oppressive heat of the day, or the

to them. ‘These dogs, which run entir

their great strength and fleetness are so well adapte :

i ; iY e vate ne «6G * eX

i i | i Teta avouré arcumstances, as, for @: |

1 wars. is owing to peculiar and favourable c . - oe

s occurs, IS OWInk he ae | | 7

a - incapacitating the dogs for a severe chase, and the hard ridges which the kangaroo
e ground; the former meapacitating g

nature of th aN
antage over his pursuers.

: e syVOIITS rain Swine’ bim a great adv :
invariably endeavours to gain giving 8 : era. Ales Gh sot sorount ene

fleetest greyhound, while, on the contrary, heavy old males, oe paciic
es ations of the interior for the sole purpose

On such grounds the females in

particular will frequently outstrip the e
Many of these fine kangaroo-dogs are kept at the stock-st ne r th
latter being killed solely for the supply of oil which it yields, and the

Although I have killed the largest males with a single dog, it is not

easily overtaken.
of running the kangaroo and the emu, the

. ee re ais
former for mere sport, or for food for the dogs. i | : :
pt this, as they possess great power, and frequently rip up the dogs, and sometimes even

renerally advisable to attem
enerally advisable to a ah
: Three or four dogs are more generally laid on, one of

cut them to the heart with a single stroke of the hind leg. 8
superior fleetness to “pull” the kangaroo, while the others rush in upon ae kall it. eee :
mode of defending itself by clasping its short powerful fore-limbs around its AMONG leaping away ay it to ine
e, and there keeping it beneath the surface until drowned; with dogs the old males will do this

It sometimes adopts a singular

nearest water-hol
whenever they have an opportunity, and it is said that they will also attempt to Hho tae ppoue with an In Von
Diemen’s Land the Macropus major forms an object of chase, and like the deer and fox in England, 1s hunted with
hounds ; and twice a week, during the season, the Nimrods of this distant land may be seen, mounted on their fleet
steeds, crossing the ferry of the Derwent, at Hobart Town, on their way to the hunting-ground, where they seldom
meet without “ finding.” The following particulars of the “ hunt” have been obligingly forwarded to me by the Honourable
Henry Elliot, late aide-de-camp to His Excellency Sir John Franklin, and one of its chief patrons.

“T have much pleasure in telling you all I know of the kangaroo-hunting in Van Diemen’s Land. The hounds are kept by
Mr. Gregson, and have been bred by him from foxhounds imported from England ; and though not so fast as most hounds here

now are, they are quite as fast as it is possible to ride to in that country.

“The ‘Boomer’ is the only kangaroo which shows good sport, for the strongest ‘ Brush Kangaroo’ cannot live above twenty
minutes before the hounds ; but as the two kinds are always found in perfectly different situations, we never were at a loss to
find a Boomer, and I must say that they seldom failed to show us good sport. We generally ‘found’ in a high cover of young
wattles; but sometimes we ‘found’ in the open forest, and then it was really pretty to see the style in which a good kangaroo
would go away. I recollect one day in particular, when a very fine Boomer jumped up in the very middle of the hounds, in the
‘open’; he at first took a few high jumps with his head up, looking about him to see on which side the coast was clearest, and
then, without a moment’s hesitation, he stooped forward and shot away from the hounds, apparently without an effort, and gave
us the longest run I ever saw after a kangaroo. He ran fourteen miles by the map from point to point, and if he had had fair
play, 1 have very little doubt but that he would then have beat us; but he had taken along a tongue of land which ran
into the sea, so that, on being pressed, he was forced to try to swim across the arm of the sea, which, at the place where
he took the water, cannot have been less than two miles broad: in spite of a fresh breeze and a head sea against him, he got
_ fully half-way over, but he could not make head against the waves any further, and was obliged to turn back, when, being
quite exhausted, he was soon killed.

“The distance he ran, taking in the different bends in the line, cannot have been less than eighteen miles, and he certainly
swam more than two. I can give no idea of the length of time it took him to run this dist

more than two hours; and it was evident, from the way in which the hounds were running,

ih , that he was a long way before us ;
and it was als 1 vas still fresh. as ite s e : id :
as also plain that he was still fresh, as, quite at the end of the run, he went over the top of a very high hill, which a

tired kangaroo never wi s dogs gain s 1 is hi 1 ithi
ange will attempt to do, as dogs gain so much on them in gomg up hill. His hind quarters weighed within a
pound or two of seventy pounds, which is large for the Van Die
“We did not measure the length of the hop of this

ance, but it took us something

men’s Land Kangaroo, though I have seen larger.
kangaroo ; but on another occasion, when the Boomer had taken along
the beach, and left his ants in the sand, the length of each jump was found to be just fifteen feet, and as regular as if they had
a aa a oe ae a ro is pressed, he is very apt to take the water, and then it equi ee several good
gs x m tor he stands waiting for them, and as ; g ores F ee aehits
fore-feet, and holds them under water. The eel is — * ia re ‘ - a8 c = vie a a ] “
ge y bold, and will generally make a stout resistance; for if he

cannot get to the water 7 -e his back agai

a pe jou ae ae back against a tree, so that he cannot be attacked from behind, and then the hest dog
“The doe, on the contrary, is a very timid cre

to preserve them, and as soon as we

were running into her.

; ature ; and I have even seen one die of fear. It was ina place where we wished
See ais a oe hoe Pale a doe, we stopped the hounds Just at the moment they
oe . ne slightest Injury, but she lay down and died in about ten minutes. When
tree, and remains so renee still fd a ae ue then gets anong the branches, or close to the trunk of a fallen
often escapes. A tolerably good FanARee will is ae es ee ie ride over her without moving, and in this way she
Adee cehicoh fein ae ee Ske Sa Ee arun of from six to ten miles
often go straight away.” - ee

a doe is beat she gener

; but in general they do not run
« to the place where they were found, though the larger ones
An extraordinary difference is observable in the s
half the size of the male: she brings for
colouring of the adult.

ize of the sexes of this spe

: | cies, the female being not more than
1 one young at a time, wl

uich as soon as it is clothed with hair assumes the
The specimens from whi i

specimens from which my drawings

range in the middle of summer, and

variation is found to exist in

and descriptions are taken were kille
are both adults ;

Specimens from differe
Plate, and others of a foxy-red.

be expected also, the fur is muc

mh I. + we “yo
The Plate represents an adult

din the neighbourhood of the Liverpool
arger examples of the male. A slight
en ing much darker than those represented in the
V Uu 7eryv rarely i 1

and more w /y? Dut very rarely, to be met with. As might reasonably
ew oolly in winter than in summer

male and female. .

I have, however, seen |
nt localities, some be
Albinoes are occasional
h thicker