m; but with a brace of dogs, if not near
cover a kangaroo almost always falls, since the greyhounds have acquired
by practice the proper method of fastening upon them. Nevertheless the dogs
are often miserably torn by them. The rough wiry greyhound suffers least in
the conflict, and is most prized by the hunters.

Other quadrupeds, besides the wild dog, consist only of the flying
squirrel, of three kinds of opossums and some minute animals, usually
marked by the distinction which so peculiarly characterizes the opossum
tribe. The rats, soon after our landing, became not only numerous but
formidable, from the destruction they occasioned in the stores. Latterly
they had almost disappeared, though to account for their absence were not
easy. The first time Colbee saw a monkey, he called 'wurra' (a rat); but on
examining its paws he exclaimed with astonishment and affright, 'mulla' (a
man).

At the head of the birds the cassowary or emu, stands conspicuous. The
print of it which has already been given to the public is so accurate for
the most part, that it would be malignant criticism in a work of this kind
to point out a few trifling defects.

Here again naturalists must look forward to that information which longer
and more intimate knowledge of the feathered tribe than I can supply, shall
appear. I have nevertheless had the good fortune to see what was never seen
but once, in the country I am describing, by Europeans--a hatch, or flock,
of young cassowaries with the old bird. I counted ten, but others said
there were twelve. We came suddenly upon them, and they ran up a hill
exactly like a flock of turkeys, but so fast that we could not get a shot
at them. The largest cassowary ever killed in the settlement, weighed
ninety-four pounds. Three young ones, which had been by accident separated
from the dam, were once taken and presented to the governor. They were not
larger than so many pullets, although at first sight they appeared to be
so from the length of their necks and legs. They were very beautifully
striped, and from their tender state were judged to be not more than three
or four days old. They lived only a few days.

A single egg, the production of a cassowary, was picked up in a desert
place, dropped on the sand, without covering or protection of any kind.
Its form was nearly a perfect ellipsis; and the colour of the shell a dark
green, full of little indents on its surface. It measured eleven inches and
a half