Almost as strange as the slender-tailed Kangaroo are those which are called the “brush-tailed,” and which inhabit rocky situations (Macropus penicillatus). Mr. Waterhouse thus notices them:—
“Whilst the Kangaroos of the plain have the fore part of the body slender and light, great strength in the hinder parts, combined with a long leg and foot, adapting them to fleetness, the tail powerful, and assisting in the support of the long body, we perceive certain modifications in the form and structure of these parts in the Rock Kangaroos which adapt them to their particular habitats. The body, more compact in form, requires but little assistance from the tail for its support, the leverage being less; and the feet are, though powerful, comparatively short, and remarkably rough beneath, being thickly covered over this part with hard tubercles, which no doubt prevent the foot from slipping. The nails of the two larger toes are shorter than usual, and, indeed, in some of the species, scarcely project beyond the fleshy pads with which the toes are terminated, and on the upper surface of which the nails are placed. A long and slender foot, with long nails, as in the typical Kangaroos, it is obvious, would be ill-adapted to an animal which has to leap to and balance itself upon the small ledges of the rocks. The tail is large, but not thickened at the root, as in the plain Kangaroos; and, unlike the tail in those animals, it is clothed with long hairs, which, gradually increasing in length from the base of the tail, become very long and bushy at the opposite extremity. It serves to steady the animal in its leaps, and to balance the body when perched in situations which require it, but is of little assistance in supporting the weight of the trunk. Its muffle, that is to say, the end of the nose, is naked, as in the scrub-inhabiting Kangaroos just noticed, and it forms the type of the sub-genus Heteropus” (ἕτερος, altered, πούς, foot).
One of these was hunted and shot amongst the woods of Liverpool plains, New South Wales, by Sir Edward Parry, who wrote that they appear to be gregarious, and seem to prefer the neighbourhood of rocky ground, in which they had holes, and to which, when hunted, they retreated. They swarm along in groups one after the other, and jump from side to side, alighting on ledges so slightly prominent that their resting thereon appears to be an impossibility. They go into caves and holes in the rocks during the day, and they enjoy the night, and gambol and feed by moonlight.
A Rock Kangaroo, with white and black bands on it, inhabits Western Australia, and a short-eared kind enjoys the hot sands and high rocks of Hanover Bay. There is a Kangaroo in the island of New Guinea (Macropus Brunii), and it was the first seen by Europeans.
THE COMMON TREE KANGAROO.[92]
COMMON TREE KANGAROO.
This is an inhabitant of New Guinea, and instead of frequenting the brush and scrub, which are not physical features found in the island, or the rocks, it lives in the forests, and is no mean but rather a good climber of trees. There is a Kangaroo look about the animal, even when it is seated on a thick branch, but the fur is very different to that of its fellows of Australia. The fur looks coarse and harsh, and is not very unlike that of a Bear. There is no soft under fur, but all the hairs are long and resemble the long ones of the Kangaroos, and the ears are quite clothed with it. Then, as the animal glides down the stem of a tree, the shortness of the hind legs becomes apparent; moreover, the claws on the foot do not resemble those of the Kangaroo. The feet are stout but rather short, and the toes are more equal in size than in the other Kangaroos. The claw of the outer toe is often on a line with the middle of the longest one (the fourth), whilst the nails of the double inner toe extend slightly beyond its base. The nail of this large fourth toe is about an inch in length. Then the fore limbs are nearly as large as the hind ones, and are very strongly made, and so are the hands, the claw of the middle finger being three-quarters of an inch in length. It has a clumsy-looking head, with a high muzzle and small lower jaw. The upper lip is straight. It has a large face and small ears, and the colour of the fur is brown-black and yellow-brown. The tail is very long, tapers slightly, and is considerably of use in steadying the climber, and it is carried very much after the fashion of the other Kangaroos when the animal has come down from its tree and hops off to its retreat. A specimen in the Zoological Gardens of London had grizzled-grey fur, whiter underneath the jaws and on the neck and limbs, and the ears were wide apart, and the powerful fore limbs ended in five claws. The tail tapered but very little. This was probably a second species called the Brown Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus inustus).
These Tree Kangaroos have a small superior canine tooth on each side, and the hinder incisor is not grooved. Hence they form a sub-genus, which is called Dendrolagus (δένδρον, a tree, λαγός, a hare), Tree Hare.
THE KANGAROO-RATS.[93]