SILVER-GREY KANGAROO.Photo by Billington][Queensland.SILVER-GREY KANGAROO.In general form the kangaroos are so like one another that one figure would almost serve for all.
Photo by Billington][Queensland.SILVER-GREY KANGAROO.In general form the kangaroos are so like one another that one figure would almost serve for all.
Photo by Billington][Queensland.
SILVER-GREY KANGAROO.
In general form the kangaroos are so like one another that one figure would almost serve for all.
At the present day, with the exception of the small group of the American Opossums and the Selvas, the entire assemblage of marsupials, comprising some 36 genera and 150 species, are, singularly to relate, exclusively found in Australia, New Guinea, and the few neighbouring islands recognised by systematic zoologists as pertaining to the Australasian region. What is more, this region of Australasia produces, with some few insignificant exceptions, chiefly rodents, no other indigenous mammals.
BLACK-STRIPED WALLABY.Photo by E. Landor][Ealing.BLACK-STRIPED WALLABY.Female with half-grown young in her pouch.
Photo by E. Landor][Ealing.BLACK-STRIPED WALLABY.Female with half-grown young in her pouch.
Photo by E. Landor][Ealing.
BLACK-STRIPED WALLABY.
Female with half-grown young in her pouch.
BENNETT'S WALLABY AND THE GREAT GREY KANGAROO.Photo by J. T. Newman][Berkhamsted.BENNETT'S WALLABY AND THE GREAT GREY KANGAROO.This photograph illustrates the relative sizes of these two species.
Photo by J. T. Newman][Berkhamsted.BENNETT'S WALLABY AND THE GREAT GREY KANGAROO.This photograph illustrates the relative sizes of these two species.
Photo by J. T. Newman][Berkhamsted.
BENNETT'S WALLABY AND THE GREAT GREY KANGAROO.
This photograph illustrates the relative sizes of these two species.
It is interesting to note that within the limits of this isolated and anciently founded marsupial order we have an epitome, as it were, of many of the more important groups of an equivalent classificatory value that are included among the higher mammalia previously described. In this relationship we find in the so-called Tasmanian Wolf, the Tasmanian Devil, and the "Native Cats" carnivorous and eminently predatory forms whose habits and general conformation are immediately comparable to those of the typical Carnivora. The Bandicoots, Banded Ant-eater, and Phascogales recall in a similar manner the higher Insectivora. In the tree-frequenting Opossums and Phalangers the external likeness and conformity in habits to the arboreal rodents is notably apparent, several of the species, moreover, possessing a parachute-like flying-membrane essentially identical with that which is found in the typical Flying-squirrels. An example in which the ground-frequenting or burrowing rodents are closely approached is furnished by the Australian Wombat, an animal which may be appropriately likened to an overgrown and lethargic Marmot. In this form, moreover, the rodent-like character of the dentition is especially noteworthy. The higher grass-eating mammals find their counterparts in the family group of the Kangaroos, in which, in addition to their essentially herbivorous habits, the contour of the head and neck, together with the expressive eyes and large expanding ears, are wonderfully suggestive of the various members of the Deer Family. The Cuscuses of New Guinea and the adjacent islands, both in form and habits, somewhat resemble their geographical neighbours, the Lorises, belonging to the Lemur Tribe, compared with which higher mammals, however, they possess the advantage of an eminently serviceable prehensile tail. The AustralianKoala, or so-called "Native Bear," has been commonly compared by zoologists with the Edentate Sloths; while in the most recently discovered marsupial, the Pouched Mole, we have a counterpart, in both form and habits, of the familiar European species. Finally, in the small American section of the Marsupialia, we meet with a type—the so-called Yapock, or Water-opossum—in which the resemblances to an Otter, in both aspect and its aquatic habits, are so marked that the animal was originally regarded as a species only of the Otter Tribe.
ALBINO RED KANGAROOS.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.
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.
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.
The character of themarsupium, or pouch, differs materially among the various members of their order. It presents its most conspicuous and normal development in such animals as the Kangaroos, Wallabies, and the Australian Opossums or Phalangers. In the Tasmanian Wolf and the Bandicoots the pouch opens backwards. In such forms as the Phascogale, or Pouched Mouse, the pouch is reduced to a few rudimentary skin-folds, while in the Banded Ant-eater its position is occupied by a mere patch of longer hairs, to which the helpless young ones cling. On the samelucus a non lucendoprinciple there is no trace of a pouch in the Koala, nor in those smaller species of the American Opossums which habitually carry their young upon their back. Even in these pouchless marsupials, however, the peculiar marsupial bones are invariably present, and in all other essential details their accord with the marsupial type of organisation and development is fully maintained.
The Kangaroos.
The typical and most familiar member of the Marsupial Order is theKangaroo—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 theGreat Grey Kangarooand theRedorWoollyspecies 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 trainedfor 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.
TASMANIAN WALLABY.Photo by W. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.TASMANIAN WALLABY.Has softer and thicker fur than its relative of the Australian mainland.
Photo by W. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.TASMANIAN WALLABY.Has softer and thicker fur than its relative of the Australian mainland.
Photo by W. Reid][Wishaw, N.B.
TASMANIAN WALLABY.
Has softer and thicker fur than its relative of the Australian mainland.
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.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.
The doe kangaroos, while of smaller size and possessing much less staying power than their mates, can nevertheless afford a good run for horses and dogs, and 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 question whether the maternal one of securing a chance of escape for her young, while feeling 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 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.
The hunting of the kangaroo is conducted on several distinct lines, the method of its pursuit being varied, according to whether the animal is required for the primary object of food, for the commercial value of its skin, as a matter of pure sport, or to accomplish its wholesale destruction in consequence of its encroachments on the pasturage required for sheep- and cattle-grazing.
ALBINO RED-BELLIED WALLABY.Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.ALBINO RED-BELLIED WALLABY.Many of the Marsupials, including Kangaroos and the Opossum-like Phalangers, exhibit a tendency to albinism.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.ALBINO RED-BELLIED WALLABY.Many of the Marsupials, including Kangaroos and the Opossum-like Phalangers, exhibit a tendency to albinism.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.
ALBINO RED-BELLIED WALLABY.
Many of the Marsupials, including Kangaroos and the Opossum-like Phalangers, exhibit a tendency to albinism.
ROCK-WALLABY.Photo by Billington][Queensland.ROCK-WALLABY.The Rock-Wallabies, in contradistinction to the Kangaroos, are for the most part nocturnal in their habits.
Photo by Billington][Queensland.ROCK-WALLABY.The Rock-Wallabies, in contradistinction to the Kangaroos, are for the most part nocturnal in their habits.
Photo by Billington][Queensland.
ROCK-WALLABY.
The Rock-Wallabies, in contradistinction to the Kangaroos, are for the most part nocturnal in their habits.
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 aprevious 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 andsavoir-faireon the part of the sportsman. It has been affirmed by a Queensland writer, "To kill kangaroos 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 can by this method expect to make kangaroo-shooting pay." The horse which is successfully employed by experienced bushmen for stalking purposes is specially trained to its work, and, 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 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 decimated 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 considered sufficiently remunerative. Taking full advantage of 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.
PARRY'S WALLABY.Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.PARRY'S WALLABY.In attitude of listening.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.PARRY'S WALLABY.In attitude of listening.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.
PARRY'S WALLABY.
In attitude of listening.
PARRY'S WALLABY.Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.PARRY'S WALLABY.Characteristic feeding attitude.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.PARRY'S WALLABY.Characteristic feeding attitude.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.
PARRY'S WALLABY.
Characteristic feeding attitude.
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 north-west, however, he still poses as "the lord of creation," and conducts his hunting expeditions on a lordly scale. The food-supply of the 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 lines represents to the Australian mind one of theselast-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 detachments 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 inter-tribal battles.
FOOT OF TREE-KANGAROO.Photo by D. Le Souef, Melbourne.FOOT OF TREE-KANGAROO.Underside, showing peculiar skin-corrugations and the united second and third toes.
Photo by D. Le Souef, Melbourne.FOOT OF TREE-KANGAROO.Underside, showing peculiar skin-corrugations and the united second and third toes.
Photo by D. Le Souef, Melbourne.
FOOT OF TREE-KANGAROO.
Underside, showing peculiar skin-corrugations and the united second and third toes.
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 into 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 towards and collected within the enclosed yard. The culminating scene is one of wholesale slaughter with club and gun. From these battues none of the unfortunate animals escape, as they are so closely hemmed in.
The first record of the existence of the kangaroo, coupled with its characteristic name, is 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, theEndeavour, 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.
Some considerable amount of obscurity is associated with the prime origin of the animal's almost world-wide title of "Kangaroo." It is most commonly accepted as representing the native name for the creature in that Queensland district from whence it was first reported by Captain Cook. No later investigations and enquiries have, however, in any way established the correctness of this hypothesis, those explorers who have made a special study of the dialects and habits of the aboriginal inhabitants entirely failing to elicit anything even remotely coinciding with the name in question. It has, in fact, been reluctantly concluded by one of the most experienced Queensland authorities on these matters that the name originated as a mere miscomprehension of the information elicited from the natives. Verbal communication with the native tribes under the most favourable circumstances is liable to a vast amount of misunderstanding, and where other than linguistic experts are present it frequently happens that much mongrel or "pidgin English" gets mixed up with the native terms. Assuming this to have been the case in the present instance, it has been suggested that the name of Kangaroo, or "Kanguroo," as it was originally spelt, implied some form of negation of the knowledge which the enquiring white man was seeking to elicit, or, maybe, partly even a phonetic and parrot-like repetition of the constantly recurring query that was doubtless current among the "handy men" of theEndeavour'scommission, such as "Can you" tell me this or that concerning the many unfamiliar objects that greeted the eyes of the new arrivals in this strange land. The writer retains a vivid recollection of a closely analogous manner in which the rural inhabitants of Vigo Bay, on the Spanish coast, appropriated a common phrase used by the crew of the yacht with whom he landed there. Having evidently noted that the two words "I say" prefaced the majority of Jack-tar's speeches, this catch-phrase was adopted and applied by them as a greeting and as a reply to almost every interrogation in dumb-show or otherwise that was addressed to them. An unknown animal submitted to these rustic Solons would doubtless have been dubbed the "I say"; and had the land been a new one—say, somewhere in the South Seas—that name would probably have stuck to it. Applying this interpretation to the kangaroo, and bearing in mind the fondness of the Australian native to duplicate his name-words or syllables—e.g.wagga-wagga,debil-debil, and so forth—the "Kang-you-you" or a closely resembling phonetic expression would present itself to the native mind as a much more correct rendering of the simpler "Can you" or "Kang you" which he had picked up as a catch-phrase from theEndeavour'screw. In the absence, at all events, of any more rational interpretation of the mystery, this one would seem to merit consideration.
BROWN TREE-KANGAROO.Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.BROWN TREE-KANGAROO.This species represents the group in North Queensland.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.BROWN TREE-KANGAROO.This species represents the group in North Queensland.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.
BROWN TREE-KANGAROO.
This species represents the group in North Queensland.
While the kangaroo is being speedily dethroned from the dominant position it originally occupied in the indigenous Australian fauna, praiseworthy and highly successful attempts have been made to acclimatise this marsupial on British soil. At Tring Park, Lord Rothschild's estate, Woburn Abbey, and elsewhere, troops of these graceful creatures may be seen under conditions of happiness and liberty scarcely inferior to those by which they are environed in their native "bush."
THE GREAT KANGAROO LEAPING.Photo by Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin.Printed at Lyons, France.THE GREAT KANGAROO LEAPING.In the posture in which this animal is represented the extraordinary size and strength of the hind limbs and tail are displayed to the best advantage. Both features are connected with the animal's marvellous powers of leaping.
Photo by Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin.Printed at Lyons, France.THE GREAT KANGAROO LEAPING.In the posture in which this animal is represented the extraordinary size and strength of the hind limbs and tail are displayed to the best advantage. Both features are connected with the animal's marvellous powers of leaping.
Photo by Ottomar Anschütz, Berlin.Printed at Lyons, France.
THE GREAT KANGAROO LEAPING.
In the posture in which this animal is represented the extraordinary size and strength of the hind limbs and tail are displayed to the best advantage. Both features are connected with the animal's marvellous powers of leaping.
Of smaller members of the Kangaroo Family, there are some thirty distinct forms, popularly known in Australia asWallabies,Wallaroos,Paddy-melons,Potoroos,Kangaroo-hares,Kangaroo-rats, etc. The wallabies, which represent the most important group with regard to their larger size and economic utility, number some fourteen or fifteen species, and are distinguished, with relation more especially to their habitats or peculiar structure, asRock-,Brush-tail, andSpur-tail Wallabies, etc. Among the rock-wallabies the yellow-footed species from South Australia is undoubtedly one of the handsomest as well as the largest member of its group, the uniform grey characteristic of the majority of its members being in this instance represented by an elegantly striped and banded form, in which the several tints of brown, yellow, black, and white are pleasingly interblended. A very fine example of this wallaby was included in the valuable collection of animals, formerly at Windsor, recently presented to the Zoological Society by His Majesty King Edward, and is now on view at the Regent's Park. The successful stalking of rock-wallabies in their native fastnesses entails no mean amount of patience and agility. Although these animals are so abundant in favoured localities as to make hard-beaten tracks to and fro betwixt their rock-dwellings and their pasture-grounds, one may traverse the country in broad daylight without catching a glimpse of a single individual. One species, about the size of a large rabbit, is very plentiful among the rocky bastion-like hills that border the Ord River, which flows into Cambridge Gulf, in Western Australia. Efforts to stalk examples in broad daylight proved fruitless; but by sallying out a little before daybreak, so as to arrive at their feeding-grounds while the light was still dim, the writer succeeded in securing several specimens. Many of these rock-wallabies are notable for the length, fine texture, and pleasing tints of their fur, their skins on such account being highly esteemed for the composition of carriage-rugs and other furry articles.
TREE-KANGAROOS.Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.TREE-KANGAROOS.Examples acclimatised in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.TREE-KANGAROOS.Examples acclimatised in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens.
Photo by D. Le Souef][Melbourne.
TREE-KANGAROOS.
Examples acclimatised in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens.
Of the larger brush or scrub varieties, the species known as theBlack Wallabyis the most familiar form. It is particularly abundant in the Southern Australian States, and also in Tasmania. Its flesh is excellent eating, and, dressed and served up in the orthodox manner of jugged hare, can scarcely be distinguished from that toothsome dish. Some of the smaller species, such as the hare- and rat-kangaroos or potoroos, are, as their names denote, of no larger dimensions than the familiar rodents from which they are popularly named. Several of these smaller species, including notably the potoroo, or kangaroo-rat of New South Wales, are addicted to paying marked attention to the settlers' gardens, and, being to a large extentroot-feeders, have acquired a special predilection for the newly planted or more fully matured potato crops.
GAIMARD'S RAT-KANGAROO.Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.GAIMARD'S RAT-KANGAROO.A species named after the French naturalist, Gaimard.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.GAIMARD'S RAT-KANGAROO.A species named after the French naturalist, Gaimard.
Photo by York & Son][Notting Hill.
GAIMARD'S RAT-KANGAROO.
A species named after the French naturalist, Gaimard.
The most abnormal group of the Kangaroo Family is undoubtedly that of theTree-kangaroos, formerly supposed to have been limited in its distribution to the island of New Guinea, but which has within recent years been found to be represented by one or more species in Northern Queensland. At the Melbourne Zoo they have been found, except in the coldest weather, to thrive well in the open—a moderate-sized tree, with a small fenced-in enclosure around it, being admirably suited to their requirements, at the same time providing a most instructive exhibition of their peculiar forms and idiosyncrasies. Seen at its best, however, the tree-kangaroo, or "boongarry," as it is known amongst the Queensland natives, is a most clumsy, melancholy-looking beast, which has apparently found itself "up a tree," not as the outcome of its personal predilections, but owing to theforce majeureof untoward pressure in the form either of relentlessly persecuting enemies or the failure of its normal terrestrial commissariat. Compared with the graceful and superlatively agile tree-frequenting phalangers, between whom and the ordinary kangaroos it has been sometimes, but erroneously, regarded as representing a connecting-link, the boongarry presents a most ungainly contrast. Its climbing powers are of the slowest and most awkward description, the whole of its energies being concentrated on its endeavour to preserve its balance and to retain a tight hold upon the branches of the trees it frequents, and to which it clings with such tenacity with its long sharp claws that it can with difficulty be detached. In its wild state, moreover, these claws can be very effectively used as weapons of defence; and hence the natives, with whom the animal is highly esteemed as an article of food, are careful to give it its quietus with their clubs or waddies before venturing to handle it. The tree-kangaroos inhabit the densest parts of the forests or "scrubs" of New Guinea and tropical Queensland, and appear to confine their movements chiefly to the trees of moderate size, or the lower branches only of the taller ones.
The species which constitutes the most natural known connecting-link between the typical Kangaroos and the family of the Phalangers, next described, is theFive-toed Rat-kangaroo, orPotoroo. As its name implies, it is a small creature of rat-like aspect and dimensions, and possesses, like a rat, a long, cylindrical, naked, scaly tail. It is the structure of the feet, however, that constitutes the important distinction. In place of the four toes only to the hind limbs it possesses the full complement of five, and the first toe, moreover, is set farther back, and is opposable for grasping purposes. This animal is from Queensland.
RAT-KANGAROO FROM NEW SOUTH WALES.Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S., Milford-on-Sea.RAT-KANGAROO FROM NEW SOUTH WALES.One of the small jerboa-like species.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S., Milford-on-Sea.RAT-KANGAROO FROM NEW SOUTH WALES.One of the small jerboa-like species.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S., Milford-on-Sea.
RAT-KANGAROO FROM NEW SOUTH WALES.
One of the small jerboa-like species.
The Phalangers.
The Phalanger Family of Marsupials, which next invites attention, is constituted of animals especially adapted to lead an arboreal life, though among themselves they exhibit very considerable structural variations. The species usually placed at the head of this group is the essentially droll and in many respects abnormal form known as theKoala, orAustralian Native Bear. Its little podgy tailless body, short thick-set head, and round tufted ears lend some countenance perhaps to the ursine analogy; but there the likeness ends.
KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR AND CUB.Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR AND CUB.An excellent illustration of the way in which the female koalas carry their young securely perched on their backs.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR AND CUB.An excellent illustration of the way in which the female koalas carry their young securely perched on their backs.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.
KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR AND CUB.
An excellent illustration of the way in which the female koalas carry their young securely perched on their backs.
The koala is limited in its distribution to the south-eastern region of the Australian Continent, and is there found inhabiting the loftiest gum-trees, on the leaves and flowers of which it almost exclusively feeds. Compared with the opossum and squirrel-like phalangers, the koala is a very slow and sedentary little animal, remaining stationary in and browsing upon the leaves of the same gum-tree for days or even weeks at a stretch. Taking advantage of this home-staying propensity, examples are established, with full liberty to wander at will among the large gum-trees, in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens, and have never abused the confidence reposed in them by surreptitiously absconding. The young koalas in particular make the most droll and delightful of household pets, speedily becoming attached to and following their owners about the premises, or contentedly settling down to the possession of an allotted corner of the verandah, in which an improvised perch has been erected and a constant supply of its favourite gum-leaves is daily assured. One such example, kept in Brisbane, Queensland, furnished the writer with the material for the photograph on this page; also of another one that illustrated in an interesting manner the very singular attitude assumed by the animal when asleep. Instead of creeping into the hollow trunk or spout of a gum or other tree, as the opossums and other phalangers are wont to do, the little "bear" simply sticks tight to his supporting branch, and, tucking in his head and ears and limbs, converts himself into an apparently homogeneous rounded mass of fur or moss, and, thus disguised, peacefully sleeps. Seen at some little distance, in fact, none but a trained eye could distinguish this sleeping bear from one of the round woody excrescences or bunches of misletoe-like parasitic growths that are of common occurrence on the trees in every gum forest. In this way the little creature secures immunity from theattacks of enemies by mimicking the characteristic peculiarities of its environment, as obtains so generally among insects and other of the lower orders of animated nature. A closely analogous sleeping attitude, it may be mentioned, is assumed by one of the African lemurs or pottos, which have been dealt with ina previous chapter.
KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.The koala has no tail, and is a stout, clumsily built animal, about 32 inches in length, with thick woolly fur of a greyish colour.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.The koala has no tail, and is a stout, clumsily built animal, about 32 inches in length, with thick woolly fur of a greyish colour.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.
KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.
The koala has no tail, and is a stout, clumsily built animal, about 32 inches in length, with thick woolly fur of a greyish colour.
Although in captivity the koala takes kindly to a mixed diet in which bread-and-milk and fruit may form substantial elements, it can rarely be induced to altogether dispense with its customary gum-leaf regimen, and it is this circumstance that mainly accounts for its rarity in European menageries. Time and again, however, this interesting animal has put in an appearance at the Regent's Park; but in spite of Kew Gardens and other sources being laid under contribution for a supply of gum-tree leaves, its sojourn there has been but brief. As a matter of fact, the common or blue gum-tree, which is alone cultivated and available in any quantity in this country, and which is indigenous to Tasmania, is not the species on which the koala is accustomed to feed. Of gum-trees there are some hundred species, every one differing in the peculiarity of its aromatic scent and flavour, and having its special clientèle among the ranks of leaf-browsing animals. So far as the writer's observations extended, it was the big Queensland "white" and "swamp" gums that were especially patronised by the Australian bears, and these are not grown in England.
Although at first sight, and normally so far as the younger individuals are concerned, the koala would appear to represent the most perfect embodiment of peace and goodwill among mammals, he is accredited at a maturer age, when crossed in love or goaded to resentment by some other cause, to give way to fits of ungovernable rage. These temporary lapses are, however, very transient, and our little friend soon recovers his customary bland placidity. While it is being threshed out, nevertheless, the "burden of song" delivered by rival claimants for a partner's favours is a remarkable phenomenon. The circumstance that the vocal duet is commonly executed high up among the branches of the loftiest gums no doubt adds very considerably to both the timbre of the "music" and the distance to which it is carried. The old-time phrase of "making the welkin ring" would undoubtedly have been applied with alacrity and singular appropriateness by the poets of the departed century to the love-song of the koala, had they been privileged to hear it.
Among the examples of the koala which have been in residence at the Zoo, one of them came to a pathetic end. As told to the writer by Mr. A. D. Bartlett, the late superintendent, it appears that the little animal, on exhibition in the gardens during the day, was brought into the house at night, and allowed the run of a room which, among other furniture, included a large swing looking-glass. One morning the little creature was found crushed to death beneath the mirror, upon which it had apparently climbed and over-balanced. The information that the animal was a female evoked the suspicion that personal vanity and the admiration of its own image in the glass had some share in compassing its untimely end. Possibly, however, it hailed in the reflection the welcome advent of a companion to share its lone banishment from the land of the gum-tree, and in its efforts to greet it thus came to grief.
KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.These animals make a peculiarly plaintive cry when molested in any way by human beings.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.These animals make a peculiarly plaintive cry when molested in any way by human beings.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.
KOALA, OR AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEAR.
These animals make a peculiarly plaintive cry when molested in any way by human beings.
The female koala produces but one cub at a time. At an early period after its birth this is transferred to its mother's back, and is thus transported until its dimensions are about one-half of those of its parent. The pair as shown in the illustration onpage 355presents, under these conditions, an essentially grotesque aspect.
It is a noteworthy circumstance that, compared with the male, the female koala is but rarely to be observed wandering abroad during broad daylight. As with the typical phalangers food is consumed chiefly at night or during the brief Australian twilight hours. While the male at certain periods, more especially the months of March and April, is much in evidence in daytime to both the senses of sight and hearing, as attested to on a previous page, the female spends the whole or greater portion of the day clinging as an inert sleeping mass to a convenient branch. "Bear"-shooting in Australia, as might be anticipated from the description here given of the animal's habits and temperament, affords but sorry sport. It may further be remarked that those who have shot at and only disabled one of these inoffensive little creatures are scarcely likely to repeat the experiment. The cry of a wounded koala has been aptly compared to that of a distressed child, but still more pathetic. When fatally shot, it also more frequently than otherwise clings tenaciously back-downwards, like the South American sloths, to the supporting tree-branch, and is thus frequently irrecoverable. With the non-sentimental Australian furrier the koala's pelt of soft, crisp, ashy-grey fur is unfortunately in considerable demand, being made up mostly, with the quaint round head and tufted ears intact, into, it must be confessed, singularly attractive and warm rugs.
The correspondence of the koala in form and habits to the sloths among the higher mammalia has been previously mentioned. The parallelism might be pursued in yet another direction. In earlier times the small tree-inhabiting South American sloths were supplemented by ground-frequenting species, such as the Megatherium, which were of comparatively titanic proportions. The epoch of the accredited existence of these huge ground-sloths was so comparatively recent—the later tertiaries—that it is even yet not regarded as altogether improbable that some existing representative of the race may yet be discovered in the fastnesses of the South American forests, and thus claim a niche in the pages of a subsequent edition of "Living Animals." In a like manner the little sloth-like tree-frequenting "Australian Bear" had his primeval ground-dwelling colossi, and there is yet a lurking hope among enthusiastic zoologists that some surviving scion of the little koala's doughty forebears may yet turn up in the practically unexplored Central Australian wildernesses. Some such anticipations, as a matter of fact, stimulated the hopes and aspirations of the participators in one of the latest of these exploring expeditions, which, while not successful in this instance in obtaining so great a prize, secured for science that most interesting and previously unknown marsupial mammal the Pouched Mole.
SQUIRREL-LIKE FLYING-PHALANGER OF VICTORIA.Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.SQUIRREL-LIKE FLYING-PHALANGER OF VICTORIA.This animal has soft grey fur like that of the chinchilla.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.SQUIRREL-LIKE FLYING-PHALANGER OF VICTORIA.This animal has soft grey fur like that of the chinchilla.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.][Milford-on-Sea.
SQUIRREL-LIKE FLYING-PHALANGER OF VICTORIA.
This animal has soft grey fur like that of the chinchilla.
The Typical Phalangers.
The typicalPhalangers, orOpossums, as they are familiarly known throughout Australia, include a very considerable number of representatives, ranging in size from that of a small mouse to that of a full-grown cat. All are essentially arboreal in their habits, feeding principally on the leaves and flowers of the various gums. They are for the most part strictly nocturnal in their habits, and make their homes and retiring-places during the day in the hollow trunks and limbs that are of such abundant occurrence in the periodically fire-swept Australian forests. Almost all the larger species are notable for the length, thickness, and exquisitely fine texture of their fur, a circumstance for which they are consequently laid under heavy penalties for the sake of their pelts. The island colony of Tasmania, in the extreme south, with its colder climate, as might be anticipated, produces the finest qualities of these furs, that of theBlackorSooty Opossum, which is peculiar to the island, being most highly prized. The length and furry character of their in many instances prehensile tails also form a conspicuous feature of this group. Nature, in fact, apparently distributed caudal material so over-liberally among these marsupials that the little koala had to make shift without.