rewards have
stimulated men, who go about the country with packs of dogs to hunt down
the rabbits for the sake of the bounty. Sometimes the whole population
turns out in a grand rabbit hunt and thousands of rabbits are killed.
Pasteur, the celebrated French chemist, proposed to destroy the rabbit
population by introducing chicken cholera among them; he thought that
by inoculating a few with the disease he could spread it among the
others, so that they would all be killed off. He admitted that the
chicken population would be killed at the same time, but none of us
would object to that if we could get rid of the rabbits, as we could
easily reintroduce domestic fowls."

Ned said that he wondered why the rabbits increased so rapidly in the
Australian colonies and not in the United States or England.

"Here is the reason of it," said the gentleman. "In America there are
plenty of wild animals, like wolves, weasels, foxes, ferrets, and the
like, to keep down the rabbit population, but here there is not a single
animal to interfere with them. They have no natural enemies whatever,
and consequently have things entirely their own way. They breed several
times a year and begin to breed very young, so that a pair of rabbits
let loose in a given locality will in a few years amount to thousands or
even to millions. There, look at that piece of ground and see what you
think of it."

The boys looked where the gentleman indicated, and saw what seemed to be
a field of tall grass or grain waving in the wind. A nearer inspection
showed that the ground was covered with rabbits, and it was the
movements of the animals that caused the illusion just described.

"Rabbits are not the only pests from which the colonies have suffered,"
the gentleman continued; "I will tell you about more of them.

"You must bear in mind," said their informant, "that when Australia was
settled it contained very few of the products, either animal or
vegetable, of other parts of the world. Among the animals there were no
noxious ones except the dingo, or wild dog, which was found in various
parts of the country. His origin has been a matter of conjecture, some
believing that he is descended from dogs which were left here by those
who discovered the continent, while others think he is indigenous to the
soil. All the other animals, and they were not numerous, were harmless
in their character. There are eight kinds of kangaroos, all of them
herbivorous. They are,