Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/227

 it, and again halts at a short distance, if not pursued. If the sportsman does not get a shot on starting it, he should wait until the cessation of the sound of the jumps of the retreating animal indicates that it has again stopped. He must then advance cautiously towards the spot, making a low continuous whistle, like the note of the Wonga-wonga pigeon; as long as this sound continues the animal never stirs, and it can be easily approached and despatched.

Great diversity of opinion prevails respecting the flesh of the kangaroo, some persons considering it nearly as good as venison; the colonists of South Australia seem to be of that opinion, since kangaroo flesh sold, a few years ago, at Adelaide market, at the rate of nine-pence a pound. The reason of this high price was, however, probably the great demand for it by the newly arrived emigrants, who were all curious to taste the flesh of this outlandish quadruped. In New South Wales, kangaroo meat is little esteemed, with the exception of the tail, which is made into a soup, superior to ox-tail. During the period I was engaged in the survey of the country to the northward of the MacLeay river, my dogs killed some almost daily; I generally kept the tail and a few steaks for my own table, leaving the rest of the carcase for the blacks, or the wild dogs. As for as my own taste goes, I certainly think that a kangaroo steak is palatable enough if dressed in the same manner as veal cutlets or venison collops; whilst the small pademella, if cooked in the same