Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/295

Rh Bass examined were distended with the coarse wiry grass; and he, as well as others, had seen the animal scratching among the dry ricks of seaweed thrown up upon the shores, but could never dis- cover what it was in search of. Now the inhabitant of the mountains can have no recourse to the sea-shore for his food, nor can he find there any wiry grass of the islands, but must live upon the food that circumstances present to him."

Mr. George Bennett, in his "Wanderings in New South Wales," has confirmed the supposition that the Wombat is not confined to one sort of vegetable food. Of one which was kept in a state of domestication, at Been, in the Tumat country, he observes, "It would remain in its habitation till dark; it would then come out and seek for the milk vessels, and should none be uncovered it would contrive to get off the covers, and bathe itself in the milk, drinking at the same time. It would also enter the little vegetable-garden attached to the station, in search of lettuces, for which it evinced much partiality. If none could be found, it would gnaw the cabbage-stalks with- out touching the foliage. Although these animals were numerous in the more distant parts of the colony, they are difficult to procure, from the great depth to which they burrow."

The indifference manifested by Mr. Bass’s Wombat to its being handled, and carried with the back downward, must be regarded as an indication of a very low degree of intelligence. Until there was actual pain, the animal was placidly content in its novel circumstances, manifesting none of that anxiety and fear that animals of higher intelligence display when suddenly placed in unusual places or