Page:Mammals of Australia (Gould), introduction.djvu/54

 and adpressed; the base bluish grey, succeeded by rufous, then white, and the extreme tip black.

Adult Female. Similar in colour to the male, but of a more uniform tint, in consequence of the rufous colouring of the shoulders and flanks being paler, and the grizzled appearance of the back not so bright.

Young. Dark grizzled grey approaching to black, particularly along the back.

Notwithstanding Mr. Waterhouse's opinion that this animal is merely a variety of H. Derbianus, and what I have said in my account of that species tending to confirm his view of the subject, I have thought it best to append a copy of my original description taken from the examples sent home by Gilbert. Future research will determine whether it be identical with the H. Derbianus or distinct.

Habitat. Houtmann's Abrolhos, Western Australia.

79. Halmaturus Dama, Gould.

Halmaturus Dama, Gould in Proc. Zool. Soc. part xii. p. 32.

Dama, aborigines of Moore's River.

Mr. Gilbert states that this animal "is an inhabitant of the dense thickets of the interior, and is so exceedingly numerous that their tracks from thence to their feeding-grounds resemble well-worn footpaths. Its general habits and manners resemble those of the Halmaturus Houtmanni. Mr. Johnson Drummond informs me that it makes no nest, but merely squats in a clump of grass like a Hare; that it feeds in the night