of grass, on the ground, of a circular figure, about ten inches in
diameter, with a hole on one side for the creature to enter at; the inside
being lined with a finer sort of grass, very soft and downy. But its manner
of carrying the materials with which it builds the nest is the greatest
curiosity: by entwining its tail (which, like that of all the kangaroo
tribe, is long, flexible and muscular) around whatever it wants to remove,
and thus dragging along the load behind it. This animal is good to eat; but
whether it be more prolific at a birth than the kangaroo, I know not.

[*kangaroo was a name unknown to them for any animal, until we introduced
it. When I showed Colbee the cows brought out in the Gorgon, he asked me if
they were kangaroos.]

The Indians sometimes kill the kangaroo; but their greatest destroyer is
the wild dog,* who feeds on them. Immediately on hearing or seeing this
formidable enemy, the kangaroo flies to the thickest cover, in which, if
he can involve himself, he generally escapes. In running to the cover, they
always, if possible, keep in paths of their own forming, to avoid the high
grass and stumps of trees which might be sticking up among it to wound them
and impede their course.

[*I once found in the woods the greatest part of a kangaroo just killed by
the dogs, which afforded to three of us a most welcome repast. Marks of its
turns and struggles on the ground were very visible. This happened in the
evening, and the dogs probably had seen us approach and had run away. At
daylight next morning they saluted us with most dreadful howling for the
loss of their prey.]

Our methods of killing them were but two; either we shot them, or hunted
them with greyhounds. We were never able to ensnare them. Those sportsmen
who relied on the gun seldom met with success, unless they slept near
covers, into which the kangaroos were wont to retire at night, and watched
with great caution and vigilance when the game, in the morning, sallied
forth to feed. They were, however, sometimes stolen in upon in the day-time
and that fascination of the eye, which has been by some authors so much
insisted upon, so far acts on the kangaroo that if he fixes his eye upon
any one, and no other object move at the same time, he will often continue
motionless, in stupid gaze, while the sportsman advances with measured
step, towards him, until within reach of his gun. The greyhounds for a long
time were incapable of taking the