In The Woods Are Various Little Songsters,
Whose Notes Are Equally Sweet And Plaintive.
Of quadrupeds, except the kangaroo, I have little to say.
The few met with
are almost invariably of the opossum tribe, but even these do not abound.
To beasts of prey we are utter strangers, nor have we yet any cause to believe
that they exist in the country. And happy it is for us that they do not,
as their presence would deprive us of the only fresh meals the settlement
affords, the flesh of the kangaroo. This singular animal is already known
in Europe by the drawing and description of Mr. Cook. To the drawing nothing
can be objected but the position of the claws of the hinder leg, which are
mixed together like those of a dog, whereas no such indistinctness
is to be found in the animal I am describing. It was the Chevalier De Perrouse
who pointed out this to me, while we were comparing a kangaroo with the plate,
which, as he justly observed, is correct enough to give the world in general a
good idea of the animal, but not sufficiently accurate for the man of science.
Of the natural history of the kangaroo we are still very ignorant. We may,
however, venture to pronounce this animal, a new species of opossum,
the female being furnished with a bag, in which the young is contained;
and in which the teats are found. These last are only two in number,
a strong presumptive proof, had we no other evidence, that the kangaroo brings
forth rarely more than one at a birth. But this is settled beyond a doubt,
from more than a dozen females having been killed, which had invariably
but one formed in the pouch. Notwithstanding this, the animal may be looked on
as prolific, from the early age it begins to breed at, kangaroos with young
having been taken of not more than thirty pounds weight; and there is room
to believe that when at their utmost growth, they weigh not less than
one hundred and fifty pounds. A male of one hundred and thirty pounds weight
has been killed, whose dimensions were as follows:
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Feet. Inches.
Extreme length 7 3
Ditt of the tail 3 4 1/2
Ditto of the hinder legs 3 2
Ditto of the fore paws 1 7 1/2
Circumference of the tail of the root 1 5
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After this perhaps I shall hardly be credited, when I affirm that the kangaroo
on being brought forth is not larger than an English mouse. It is, however,
in my power to speak positively on this head, as I have seen more than one
instance of it.
In running, this animal confines himself entirely to his hinder, legs,
which are possessed with an extraordinary muscular power. Their speed
is very great, though not in general quite equal to that of a greyhound;
but when the greyhounds are so fortunate as to seize them, they are incapable
of retaining their hold, from the amazing struggles of the animal.
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