Our best known animals, however, are the Kangaroos, of which we have three species, distinguished by the names of Forester, Brush, and Wallaby.
The Forester (Macropus major, Shaw), the male being known by the name of "boomer," and the young female by that of "flying doe," is the largest and only truly gregarious species,—now nearly extinct in all the settled or occupied districts of the island, and rare everywhere. This species afforded the greatest sport and the best food to the early settlers, an individual weighing 100 to 140 pounds. It is much to be regretted that this noble animal is likely so soon to be exterminated. It was usually hunted by large powerful dogs, somewhat similar to the Scotch deer hounds; and when closely pressed had the remarkable peculiarity of always taking to the water where practicable. A modern kangaroo hunt has been thus graphically described by the Honorable Henry Elliot, in Gould's splendid work on the Macropodidæ:—
"I have much pleasure in telling you all I know of the kangaroo-hunting in Van Diemen's Land. The hounds are kept by Mr. Gregson, and have been bred by him from fox-hounds imported from England; and though not so fast as most hounds here now are, they are quite as fast as it is possible to ride to in that country. The 'boomer' is the only kangaroo which shows good sport, for the strongest 'brush' kangaroo cannot live above twenty minutes before the hounds; but as the two kinds are always found in perfectly different situations we never were at a loss to find a 'boomer,' and I must say that they seldom failed to show us good sport. We generally 'found' in a high cover of young wattles, but sometimes we 'found' in the open forest, and then it was really pretty to see the style in which a good kangaroo would go away. I recollect one day in particular, when a very fine 'boomer' jumped up in the very middle of the hounds, in the 'open:' he at first took a few high jumps with his head up, looking about him to see on which side the coast was clearest, and then, without a moment's hesitation, he stooped forward and shot away from the hounds, apparently without an effort, and gave us the longest run I ever saw after a kangaroo. He ran fourteen miles by the map from point to point, and if he had had fair play I have very little doubt but that he would then have beat us; but he had taken along a tongue of land which ran into the sea, so that, on being pressed, he was forced to try to swim across the arm of the sea, which, at the place where he took the water, cannot have been less than two miles broad; in spite of a fresh breeze and a head sea against him, he got fully half-way over, but he could not make head against the waves any further, and was obliged to turn back, when, being quite exhausted, he was soon killed.
"The distance he ran, taking in the different bends in the line, cannot have been less than eighteen miles, and he certainly swam more than two. I can give no idea of the length of time it took him to run this distance, but it took us something more than two hours; and it was evident, from the way in which the hounds were running, that he was a long way before us; and it was also plain that he was still fresh, as, quite at the end of the run, he went over the top of a very high hill, which a tired kangaroo never will attempt to do, as dogs gain so much on them in going up hill. His hind quarters weighed within a pound or two of seventy pounds, which is large for the Van Diemen's Land kangaroo, though I have seen larger.
"We did not measure the length of the hop of this kangaroo; but on another occasion, when the 'boomer' had taken along the beach, and left his prints in the sand, the length of each jump was found to be just fifteen feet, and as regular as if they had been stepped by a sergeant. When a 'boomer' is pressed, he is very apt to take the water, and then it requires several good dogs to kill him, for he stands waiting for them, and as soon as they swim up to the attack, he takes hold of them with his fore feet, and holds them under water. The buck is altogether very bold, and will generally make a stout resistance; for if he cannot get to the water, he will place his back against a tree, so that he cannot be attacked from behind, and then the best dog will find in him a formidable antagonist.
"The doe, on the contrary, is a very timid creature, and I have even seen one die of fear. It was in a place where we wished to preserve them, and as soon as we found that we were running a doe we stopped the hounds, just at the moment they were running into her. She had not received the slightest injury, but she lay down and died in about ten minutes. When a doe is beat she generally makes several sharp doubles, and then gets among the branches or close to the trunk of a fallen tree, and remains so perfectly still that she will allow you almost to ride over her without moving, and in this way she often escapes.
"A tolerably good kangaroo will generally give a run of from six to ten miles; but in general they do not run that distance in a straight line, but make one large ring back to the place where they were found, though the larger ones often go straight away."
The Brush kangaroo (Macropus [Halmaturus] Bennettii, Waterh.) is universally distributed over Tasmania, and in some localities was formerly very numerous indeed, but the war of extermination constantly waged at all seasons against this species, for the sake of its skin, has, in many places, entirely destroyed it, and rendered it scarce everywhere. Many thousands of skins have been annually exported from Launceston alone, and nearly all the leather used in the colony for ladies' and gentlemen's boots and shoes is made from the skin of the brush kangaroo, which is thicker and better than that of the larger species.
The Wallaby (Macropus [Halmaturus] Billardieri, Desm.) is the smallest species of kangaroo, and inhabits thickets; and although described by Mr. Gould as being gregarious, is never seen in flocks, as is the forester kangaroo.
All the different species of kangaroo are admirable food, and are now in much request by the residents in the towns as a delicacy, having in soup a flavor somewhat similar to that of hare. No others of the indigenous quadrupeds are usually used for food, although occasionally bushmen eat the wombat and echidna, and, more rarely, the bandicoots and kangaroo rats.