FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129  
130   131   132   133   >>  
but approaches the squirrel tribe. It is a lilliputian kangaroo, the size of our native wood squirrel and larger, only grey or reddish-grey. It can leap six or eight feet easily, and is excellent eating. The native dog is of all colours; it has the head and brush of a fox, with the body a legs of a dog. It is a cowardly animal, and will run away from you like mad. It is a great enemy of the kangaroo rat, and a torment to the squatter, for a native dog has a great PENCHANT for mutton and will kill thirty or forty sheep in the course of an hour. A species of mocking-bird which inhabits the bush is a ludicrous creature. It imitates everything, and makes many a camping party imagine there is a man near them, when they hear its whistle or hearty laugh. This bird is nicknamed the "Jackass," and its loud "ha! ha! ha!" is heard every morning at dawn echoing through the woods and serving the purpose of a "boots" by calling the sleepy traveller in good time to get his breakfast and pursue his journey. The bats here are very large. Insects, fleas, &c., are as plentiful as it is possible to be, and the ants, of which there are several kinds, are a perfect nuisance. The largest are called by the old colonists, "bull-dogs," and formidable creatures they are--luckily not very common, about an inch and a half long, black, or rusty-black, with a red tail. They bite like a little crab. Ants of an inch long are quite common. They do not--like the English ones--run scared away at the sight of a human being--not a bit of it; Australian ants have more PLUCK, and will turn and face you. Nay, more, should you RETREAT, they will run after you with all the impudence imaginable. Often when my organ of destructiveness has tempted me slightly to disturb with the end of my parasol one of the many ant-hills on the way from Melbourne to Richmond, I have been obliged, as soon as they discovered the perpetrator of the attack, to take to my heels and run away as if for my life. Centipedes and triantelopes (colonial, for tarantula) are very common, and though not exactly fatal, are very dangerous if not attended to. The deaf adder is the most formidable "varmint" in Australia. There are two varieties; it is generally about two feet long. The bite is fatal. The deaf adder never moves unless it is touched, hence its name. I do not think it has the power of twisting or twirling, like the ordinary snake or adder and it is very slow in its movements. Th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129  
130   131   132   133   >>  



Top keywords:
common
 

native

 

formidable

 

kangaroo

 

squirrel

 
scared
 
Australian
 

touched

 
English
 

ordinary


movements

 

creatures

 
luckily
 

RETREAT

 
twirling
 

twisting

 
imaginable
 
discovered
 

perpetrator

 

obliged


Melbourne

 

Richmond

 

varmint

 

attack

 

attended

 

triantelopes

 

colonial

 

tarantula

 

Centipedes

 

dangerous


destructiveness

 
tempted
 

generally

 

impudence

 

varieties

 
slightly
 

Australia

 
disturb
 

parasol

 
journey

mutton
 

thirty

 
PENCHANT
 
squatter
 

torment

 

imitates

 
creature
 

camping

 
ludicrous
 

species