This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
KANGAROOS.
271


wood, known by the term scrubs, in which they shelter themselves during the heat of the day.

Of a very beautiful species, somewhat less than the preceding, the White-tailed Kangaroo (Macropus Parryi, Bennett), Sir Edward Parry has given some interesting details. It was caught by the natives near Port Stephens, in New South Wales; having been thrown out of its mother’s pouch when the latter was hunted. At that time it was somewhat less than a rabbit; but having continued in the possession of Sir Iidward Parry for more than two years in New South Wales, besides six months on the passage to England, it was considered (when this account was published) as full-grown. It had never been kept in confinement until it was embarked for England, but lived in the kitchen, and ran about the house and grounds like a dog, going out every night after dark into the “bush,” or forest, to feed; and usually returned to its friend, the man-cook, in whose bed it slept, about two o’clock in the morning. Besides what it might obtain in these excursions, it ate meat, bread, vegetables; in short, everything given to it by the cook, with whom it was extremely tame, but would allow nobody else to take liberties with it. It expressed its anger when very closely approached by others, by a sort of half-grunting, half-hissing, very discordant sound, which appeared to come from the throat, without altering the expression of the countenance. In the daytime it would occasionally, but not often, venture out to a considerable distance from home; in which case it would sometimes be chased back by strange dogs, especially those belonging to the natives. From