The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1889-06-06
THE AUSTRALIAN KANGAROO.
A Swift Leaper, Terrible Fighter, and
Something of a Joke Withal.

A Swift Leaper, "a Terrible Fighter, and
Something of a Joke Withal.
In speaking of the peculiarities of
the Australasian fauna | cannot dc
better than begin with the kangaroo.
He is one of the most prosecuted of
living things, is hunted with dogs.
with the shotgun and rifle. and round
ed up' in great drives like those by
which war is waged upon the jack
rabbits in California. His hide makes
beautifully pliable leather, which is
used for boots, leggins, and countless
other articles; his flesh. too, is es-
teemed alike by "blackfellows" and
squatters, and the soups and the rag
outs that are made from his tail might
agreeably vary the ambrOsial feasts of
the gods. His pelts are the regular
article of commerce, are quoted in the
daily papers at as full length as the
skins of cattle aud sheep, and bring
large revenue to the station-owners in
the back country; altogether, he is the
most important object of ferp natura
in the colonies, and abundantly de-
serves the prominent place he oc-
cupies upon the Australian coat Of
arms, where, opposed to the emu, he
holds the position given to the lion in
his association with the unicorn in the
heraldic crest of England.
The kangaroos which appear in
every well-equipped menagerie in the
United States are faint and feeble
parody upon the animal as he ap-
pears in his native ''bush," which, by
the way, is term indiscriminately ap-
piled not only to underbrush and
thickets but also to the lordliest forests
and the broadcst stretches of plain
dozen varieties of kangaroo proper,
the largest of which, even when
squatted upon their launches, are
nearly feet in height. Besides these
are others in the form of wallabys,
which vary in size from rabbits to
creatures or feet high, and even be-
low these, nature continues her joke in
the production of the kangaroo rats
sharp-nosed, keen-eyed creatures, with
all the movements of the kangaroo.
The kangaroo is a joke, however
you look at him. He has four legs,
but uses only two in travelling, and he
employs his tail, not, as is generally
supposed, as sort of supplementary
leg upon which to alight after his long
jumps. but somewhat as Blondin
utilizes his balancing-pole in his peril
Gus promenades on the tight-rope.
The movement of the kangaroo is
accomplished with his body bent well
forward, his forelegs curled up, and
his tail projecting in graceful curve
astern. At a single bound he will
cover distance of thirty feet, and
soar over bushes ten feet high in the
midst of it as lightly as bird. His
powerful hind legs seem made of
springs, which are compressed by his
weight when he strikes the ground. and
Immediately released to give momen-
tum for new flight; his progress is
without apparent break, and resem-
bles that of highly elastic rubber
ball that is thrown along smooth
pavement. He will outrun the fleet
est horse, aud only the best kangaroo
dog Ca species of greyhound especially
bred for the purpose) can tire and
overtake him. The favorite way to
shoot him is to lie in wait near his
haunts, and send in beaters and dogs
to run him out.
As he comes springing over the bush
es you let drive at him with shotguns
loaded with buckshot, and if you are
good at ''rocketing" pheasants or
ducks as they spring from the water
you may bring him down.
Kangaroo chasing by horses and
dogs is sport which throws English
fox-hunting into the shade, and is at
tended with as frequent tumbles and
broken bones as the moss ardent
votary of hunting could desire. Timid,
inoffensive, and fugitive as the kan
garoo is when pursued, he is a bold
and dangerous beast when wounded
and brought to bay. Nature, which
leaves no animal entirely defenseless,
has equipped him with q weapon which
is the dread of dogs and men alike. His
powerful hind legs terminate in feet
which are set with three strong black
claws, of which the central one is long
aud sharp, with the cutting surface of
chisel or gouge.
Woe be to the sanguine hound
which, seeing an "old man. kangaroo
winded or wounded, backed up against
a tree and unable to 90 farther, rushes
in to catch him by the throat and finish
him! The hitherto useless fore legs
catch and hold him, and the terrible
hind feet, playing up and down like
the walking-beam of a steamboat, tear
him open and scatter his entrails over
the ground. The like fate has some
times happened TO hunters who have
attacked a wounded kangaroo with a
knife III order to save their ammu-
milton, and grewsome stories are ex-
tant in which some huge beast, seizing
his enemy in his arms, has sailed off
bodily with him over break and brier
to put him to death with unknown tor
lures in some secluded lair. These,
however, are evidently legends invent
ed fer the admiration of the "new
chum," as the .'tenderfoot" is locally
called.
The kangaroo of ancient times was
a monster we'll worthy of association
with the giant 'moa"-that bird of
fifteen feet stature. In the admira bic
Australian museum at Sydney, says a
correspondent of the New York Times,
are the fossil remains of this MAN.
moth marsupial, W .th skull as large
as that of the present elephant and
bones which indicate that he was as
tall as telegraph pole. He fed on
flesh, this creature, and if his strength
and agility were commensurate with
his size he must have been capable of
covering 100 yards at bound. The
remains of this great beast have been
discovered in considerable quantities
in series of caves in western New
South Wales, together with the skulls
and bones of the Australian bear,
which also appears as an Anak among
the present degenerate race.