The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-26
QUEER AUSTRALIAN CAME.
Native Pheasants and QuAllS-The BASTARD
Soup Of Kangaroo Tail.

From TIE London Ftcd,
II 10 on the ~billabongs and creeks OF the
back country that the best sport is to be
obtained, In vet seasons ducks and teal are
10 be shot, and in the ranges between the
Murray and the MurrumbidEee rivers the
native pheasant, " or malice hen. is TO be
found. This is q fine table bird, quite equal,
In my opinion, to any English pheasant,
II 10 very shy and not easy to obtain.
knew . man who kept q few bloOdhounds
for hunting dinGOes. He used TO go into the
scrub where there were malice hens, put the
dogs on their tracks and canter after them.
The birds would sometimes rise In an open
space in the scrub, and have known him
TO bring down . brace OF them when shoot
ing from the saddle.
Good duck shooting might be had at the
large water holes II It were possible 10 get
near without being seen, and In the summer
evenings excellent sport ia obtainable by
waiting for the bronzewlnged pigeons, which
a. sunset nv to water. There Ia also q small
quail. like the Egyptian, TO be shot in New
South Wales after harvest. There they strip
the wheat, /, e., take merely the heads on
with q stripping machine, leaving the straw.
l have known half q dozen guns make q capital
bag without dogs.
The Australian game bird, however, IL the
native bustGrd. or wild turkey" as II ia
there called. although It 10 now very scarce
excepting in the extreme back country.
At one time II was common enough in 0ic-
toria. though now rare in that State, but
on the back blocks Of New South Wales
II was plentiful 4 few years ago.
They were. nevertheless. dinncult TO stalk
on foot. but, %CuriOusly enough, will allow
one 10 drive quite within range, and have
seen many shot from q buggy toward the
Darling River, They are capital table birds,
often larger thar, the biggest turkey one
could buy at an English Christmas market.
The flesh OF the breast 10 brown and tastes
like wild duck. Properly cooked the Austria
Ian bustard has hardly its equal. II prefers
arid plains, and | have shot them on the
Ioidns,ds % Western Australia. whore there
ls little or no water. 1hoy must be able 10
ny great distances, for one never sees them
about the desert country Of West Australia In
the hot weather.
Imported hGres are very numerous in
certain parts. and the rabbit is ubiquitous.
I remember an Australian aQuatter, who
was ruined by rabbits. saying that he had
not much left. but he would be glad TO sub
scribe 4 pound toward a monument TO the
idiot who introduced rabbits and foxes into
Australia Rabbit shooting Is TO be had
almost anywhere, and - they are trapped
and poisoned by the hundred thousand
perhaps they too may become extinct In
time. No one who has not Ieen the rabbit
warrens in the sandy back country Of the
Darling would credit the enormous number
which exist there. 1 have passed miles Of
sandhills at dusk which seemed absolutely
alive with the vermin. as Australians call them.
This reminds me Of an EhElishman engaged
10 cook for the shearers on . back station.
who by way Of a treat made a rabbit pie
for the men. He was nearly murdered for
his palms, Aust rBl liam shearbTs had not come.
they said, TO eat verrnlni
Twenty or thirty years ago the back
country sQuatters, in order TO destroy kan
garoos. used TO dig huge pits al the corners
Of their paddooks, running yurds Of calico
along their wire fences and then drive the
kanEaroos into the pits, clubbing and shooting
them. In those DAYS kangaroo skins we're
OF no value; now that they are almost en-
tinot there 10 a great demand for them. The
flesh Of a young kangaroo is by no means
10 he despised. and kangaroo tail soup IL .
delicscy now hardly 10 be obtained.