Expedition into Central Australia eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 759 pages of information about Expedition into Central Australia.

Expedition into Central Australia eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 759 pages of information about Expedition into Central Australia.

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1.  Canis FAMILIARIS, var.  AUSTRALASIAE.—­Dingo.

This animal was not very numerous in the interior, more especially towards the centre, for it was not noticed to the north of the Stony Desert.  Wherever seen it was in the most miserable condition, and it is difficult to say on what they lived.  This animal was of all colours.  It appears to me that if these dogs are indigenous, nature has departed from her usual laws as regards wild beasts, in giving them such a variety of colours.

2.  MACROPUS major.—­Great Kangaroo.

This animal did not extend beyond 28 degrees.  Six or seven were there seen on a small stony range, but very few were observed to the westward of the Barrier Range.

3.  MACROPUS LANIGER.—­Red Kangaroo.

This fine animal did not extend beyond the neighbourhood and plains of the Murray, where it is not numerous.  Several of the smaller kangaroos were taken during the progress of the Expedition up the Murray and Darling rivers; but as they have been frequently described, it is not thought necessary to insert them in this list.

4.  Choeropus castanotus, Gray.

This animal was first killed on the Darling, but the specimen was destroyed by the dogs.  Two or three were afterwards taken alive in latitude 26 1/2 degrees.  They were found lying out in tufts of grass, and when roused betook themselves after a short run, to some hollow logs where they were easily cut out.  The Choeroups is a beautiful animal, about eight inches long in the body, with a tail of considerable length, having a tuft at the end.  The fur is a silvery grey, and very soft.  When confined in a box they ate sparingly of grass and young leaves, but preferred meat and the offal of birds shot for them.  The Choeropus is insectivorous, and I was therefore not surprised at their taking to animal food, which, however, not agreeing with them, they died one after the other.  They squat like rabbits, laying their broad ears along their backs in the same kind of way.

5.  Hapalotis Mitchellii.

This beautiful little animal was, as I have observed in the introduction to this notice, first seen in the vicinity of the Depot.  It was subsequently found in vast numbers, inhabiting the sandy ridges from Fort Grey to Lake Torrens.  Those immense banks of sand were in truth marked over with their footprints as if an army of mice or rats had been running over them.  They are not much larger than a mouse, have a beautiful full black eye, long ears, and tail feathered towards the end.  The colour of the fur is a light red, in rising they hop on their hind legs, and when tired go on all four, holding their tail perfectly horizontal.  They breed in the flats on little mounds, burrowing inwards from the edge; various passages tending like the radii of a wheel to a common centre, to which a hole is made from the top of the mound, so that there is a communication from it to all the passages.

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Expedition into Central Australia from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.